niveler

French

Etymology

From niveau +‎ -er, via its Old French root nivel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni.vle/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

niveler

1. to level, level out (ground)
2. to even, even out (put on the same level)

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il nivèle and the third-person singular future indicative il nivèlera.

Conjugation of niveler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	niveler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	nivelant /ni.vlɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		nivelé /ni.vle/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	nivèle /ni.vɛl/	nivèles /ni.vɛl/	nivèle /ni.vɛl/	nivelons /ni.vlɔ̃/	nivelez /ni.vle/	nivèlent /ni.vɛl/
	imperfect	nivelais /ni.vlɛ/	nivelais /ni.vlɛ/	nivelait /ni.vlɛ/	nivelions /ni.və.ljɔ̃/	niveliez /ni.və.lje/	nivelaient /ni.vlɛ/
	past historic2	nivelai /ni.vle/	nivelas /ni.vla/	nivela /ni.vla/	nivelâmes /ni.vlam/	nivelâtes /ni.vlat/	nivelèrent /ni.vlɛʁ/
	future	nivèlerai /ni.vɛl.ʁe/	nivèleras /ni.vɛl.ʁa/	nivèlera /ni.vɛl.ʁa/	nivèlerons /ni.vɛl.ʁɔ̃/	nivèlerez /ni.vɛl.ʁe/	nivèleront /ni.vɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	nivèlerais /ni.vɛl.ʁɛ/	nivèlerais /ni.vɛl.ʁɛ/	nivèlerait /ni.vɛl.ʁɛ/	nivèlerions /ni.vɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ni.ve.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	nivèleriez /ni.vɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /ni.ve.lə.ʁje/	nivèleraient /ni.vɛl.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	nivèle /ni.vɛl/	nivèles /ni.vɛl/	nivèle /ni.vɛl/	nivelions /ni.və.ljɔ̃/	niveliez /ni.və.lje/	nivèlent /ni.vɛl/
	imperfect2	nivelasse /ni.vlas/	nivelasses /ni.vlas/	nivelât /ni.vla/	nivelassions /ni.vla.sjɔ̃/	nivelassiez /ni.vla.sje/	nivelassent /ni.vlas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	nivèle /ni.vɛl/	—	nivelons /ni.vlɔ̃/	nivelez /ni.vle/	—
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

• déniveler
• nivelable
• nivelage
• nivelette

Further reading

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