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

(transitive) to mark, mark down (to add a mark or a spot to something)
Marquer le papier.
To mark [down] the paper.
(transitive) to mark (to place a mark in something as a reminder)
Marquer la page dans le livre
Mark a page in a book.
(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.
(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.
(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	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	marquer
present participle or gerund¹	simple	marquant /maʁ.kɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	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/
(simple tenses)	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
(compound tenses)	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).