marquer

French

Etymology

From Middle French marquer (15th c.), from northern Old French merchier, merquer, denominal from merc (“sign”), from Old Norse merki. The -a- may be due to a general variation in Middle French, but was likely reinforced by Italian marcare (13th c.), which is derived from Latin marca, from a confluence of Proto-West Germanic *mark and *marku, both related with the Old Norse above. Latin marca is also the source of French marche (“frontier”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁ.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

marquer

1. (transitive) to mark, mark down (to add a mark or a spot to something)

   Marquer le papier.

   To mark [down] the paper.

2. (transitive) to mark (to place a mark in something as a reminder)

   Marquer la page dans le livre

   Mark a page in a book.

3. (transitive) to brand (brandish someone's skin with a mark)

   Marquer la peau avec du fer chaud.

   To mark/brand one's skin with hot iron.

4. (transitive) to mark (to feature as a highlight of something)

   Ce projet va marquer l’avenir de la firme.

   This project will mark the company's future.

5. (transitive, sports) to score (e.g. a point or a goal)

   Vous devez marquer trois buts si vous voulez gagner.

   You must score three goals if you want to win.

Conjugation

Conjugation of marquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	marquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	marquant /maʁ.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		marqué /maʁ.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	marque /maʁk/	marques /maʁk/	marque /maʁk/	marquons /maʁ.kɔ̃/	marquez /maʁ.ke/	marquent /maʁk/
	imperfect	marquais /maʁ.kɛ/	marquais /maʁ.kɛ/	marquait /maʁ.kɛ/	marquions /maʁ.kjɔ̃/	marquiez /maʁ.kje/	marquaient /maʁ.kɛ/
	past historic2	marquai /maʁ.ke/	marquas /maʁ.ka/	marqua /maʁ.ka/	marquâmes /maʁ.kam/	marquâtes /maʁ.kat/	marquèrent /maʁ.kɛʁ/
	future	marquerai /maʁ.kə.ʁe/	marqueras /maʁ.kə.ʁa/	marquera /maʁ.kə.ʁa/	marquerons /maʁ.kə.ʁɔ̃/	marquerez /maʁ.kə.ʁe/	marqueront /maʁ.kə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	marquerais /maʁ.kə.ʁɛ/	marquerais /maʁ.kə.ʁɛ/	marquerait /maʁ.kə.ʁɛ/	marquerions /maʁ.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	marqueriez /maʁ.kə.ʁje/	marqueraient /maʁ.kə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	marque /maʁk/	marques /maʁk/	marque /maʁk/	marquions /maʁ.kjɔ̃/	marquiez /maʁ.kje/	marquent /maʁk/
	imperfect2	marquasse /maʁ.kas/	marquasses /maʁ.kas/	marquât /maʁ.ka/	marquassions /maʁ.ka.sjɔ̃/	marquassiez /maʁ.ka.sje/	marquassent /maʁ.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	marque /maʁk/	—	marquons /maʁ.kɔ̃/	marquez /maʁ.ke/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• marqué au coin du bon sens
• marquer au fer rouge
• marquer d’une pierre blanche
• marquer le coup
• marquer le pas
• marquer les esprits
• marquer un point
• marqueur

 

Further reading

• “marquer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.