# FR: essayer - j'essaie/essaierai / j'essaye/essayerai, etc. - conjugaison



## bbgriff44

Y a-t-il une différence entre "j'essaie" et "j'essaye"?  Mon prof pense qu'il n'y a pas de différence.  J'ai trouvé quelques ouvrages qui disent qu'il faut utiliser 'j'essaie" et d'autres qui indiquent le contraire.

Merci d'avance.

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads merged to create this one. This thread discusses the spelling of this verb. A discussion on the pronunciation of these forms has been split to a separate thread.


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## Franglais1969

Good afternoon,

As far as I am aware, both are acceptable, although *j'essaie *is much more common.

Hope that helps.


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## pieanne

Have you tried a conjugator?
To me, both can be used


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## M2k

Which is correct or should I say which do you prefer?


Ils essaient 
or
Ils essayent


Merci d'avance

[*Moderator note*: a discussion on the pronunciation of these forms has been split to a separate thread.]


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## marget

Both are correct.  I prefer the first one.


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## Maître Capello

Both are correct (see the WR conjugator). 

Anyway I would tend to use the former (_ils essaient_) which is more common nowadays I think…


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## jaxineau

Some people do, however, conjugate the whole verb with the -y- stem. (essaye, essayes, essaye, essayons, essayez, essayent)


The conventional way is definitely with the -i- for the singulars and the third person plural. (essaie, essaies, essaie,........, essaient)


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## shrews

Hi,

You should use the 'i' the 'y' is  old fashionned but you must keep the 'y' with the "nous and "vous" ppolite or when you're talking to several persons.
So it gives 
j'essaie
tu essaies
il/elle/on essaie
nous essayons
vous essayez
ils/elles essaient

I hope it helps


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## elmerruffingspoon

Bonjour a tous,

parfois dans le WR Conjugator si bien-aimé, des conjugaisons s'écrivent en deux formes, par exemple dans le present indicatif on voit essaie, et essaye:
http://www.wordreference.com/conj/FRverbs.asp?v=essayer

Ma question, pour clarifier, quelle est la différence ici: masculin/feminin?

Merci!

E


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## mariebruxelles

Non, cela signifie que l'on peut utiliser les deux formes (j'essaie ou j'essaye).  Les deux sont correctes.


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## heyrenee

Quelle est la raison des deux formes d'orthographe ? Un est-il masculin et l'autre féminin? Un est-il employé dans des situations formelles ? L'utilisation est-elle arbitraire ? Je suis très curieuse (et ignorante aussi).

j'*essai**e, essaye*
tu* essai**es, essayes*
il, elle, on *essai**e, essaye*
ils, elles *essai**ent, essayent

*Merci


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## jann

Hello Heyrenee, 

I've transferred your question into an existing thread on the same topic, so you may find it helpful to read back through the previous posts.  I found the thread by searching for _essaye essaie_ in the "dictionary look-up" at the top of the page, and then scrolling to the section for thread titles containing my search words.

Quite simply, this verb has two possible spellings.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with gender or formality. 

Jann
Moderator


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## Louise :-)

Hi, which spelling is more correct/more frequently used - j'essaie or j'essaye? Lou


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## bobepine

Personally, even though "j'essaye" is correct, I would write "j'essaie" in all formal contexts and keep "j'essaye" to reflect speech.


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## Donaldos

Both are equally correct but I would write _essa*i*e_ too.


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## bjankovic

The *y* changes to *i *except with "nous" and "vous".

J'essa*i*e
Tu essa*i*es
Il/Elle/On essa*i*e
Nous essa*y*ons
Vous essa*y*ez
Ils/Elles essa*i*ent

This applies to all -er verbs that end in -*yer*.


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## double_THI/ NK2+2=5

I've noticed this verb has two forms in the 1st,2nd,3rd,and 3rd person plural forms. One form uses an i and the other a y. For example: j'essaie + j'essaye.
Is there a rule for when you use one or the other.


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## XPditif

No, they are stricly equivalent, just a spelling curiosity.
It ought to disappear in a few decades.
A matter of what you fancy: are you a i man or a y man (or woman)?


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## pifnane

educated people are more likely to write (and pronounce) j'essaie


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## Rouleau

XPditif said:


> No, they are stricly equivalent, just a spelling curiosity.
> It ought to disappear in a few decades.
> A matter of what you fancy: are you a i man or a y man (or woman)?



 Very funny! What do "real" French people (imans or ymans) use?


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## pifnane

"real" French people _are _educated.
several verbs (eg payer, effrayer...) have both forms 
same rule works


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## XPditif

French people use both, 
I wouldn't want anybody to prefer one form -- apart from personal feeling.
And I had never heard of this posh distingo.


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## Ziella

Bonjour!

Qu’est que c’est la différence entre ‘j’essaye’ et ‘j’essaie’ ?

Merci d'avance


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## Proto17

"Il existe une différence de prononciation entre j'essaie et j'essaye mais les 2 formes sont admises seulement pour les verbes en -ayer. Pour les verbes en -oyer seule la terminaison en -oie est autorisée (ex: je nettoie et non je nettoye...)"

http://fr.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080918120136AAkwbLj


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## Ziella

Ah bon, merci beaucoup. 
Que'est-ce que c'est la différence de prononciation entre les deux?


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## Proto17

"J'essaie" se prononce [j'essai] comme dans [vraie], on ne prononce pas le e mais on fait durer le ai.
"J'essaye" se prononce [j'esseille] comme dans [merveille].

Je pense, mais je ne suis pas sur, que cela vient des différents "patois" de la France, langue d'Oil et langue d'Oc.


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## Keith Bradford

I once spent half an hour in a restaurant in St-Ciers sur Gironde debating on the pronunciation of the place-name Blaye (known for its wine).  The consensus seemed to be that Blaye is pronounced /blaj/ but that the verbs are pronounced /balé/, /èsé/ and so on.  Mind you, we had had a drink or two and nobody was certain of the subjunctives...

(Phonetics approximate)


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## elle97

I don't know whether 'I try' in french is:

J'essaie    
or
Je essaye 

J'essaie avoir
Je essaye avoir

I'm confused. Can you use either?
Thanks


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## Enquiring Mind

Either is possible, there is no difference in meaning.  But note that the construction is _essayer *de* faire quelque chose_. 
_J'essaye/j'essaie de comprendre ...  __J'essaye/j'essaie de trouver une solution_. etc.

Edit: Oops, I misread the question - read this in conjunction with Keith's reply!


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## Keith Bradford

That's right, but before the letter "e" of essayer (and indeed any other vowel) you have to drop the "e" of je. _J'essaie, j'adore, j'utilise, j'imagine, j'oublie_...

(However, _essayer _is followed by "de" -- like _to attempt _is followed by "to".)


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## yuechu

I know that both "J'essayerai" and "J'essaierai" are listed as being correct, but in usage, is one viewed as being more correct than the other?
Merci d'avance !


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## Blougouz

I would say no...
Once again, the choice is depending on personnal preferences, regions, generations... So either or!


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## Nicomon

While I agree that either/or is correct,   I for on automatically corrected it in my mind when I saw the title.    
I have always written it with i, not y :   _J'essa*i*erai. _
Then again, you're more likely to hear me say in « futur proche » rather than futur simple : _  Je vais essayer.  _


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## Namolo Kaman

I believe "j'essaierai" is more formal, while "j'essayerai" more familiar, connotatively.  Bourgeois upper classes are more likely to say the former — which, to my metropolitan French ear, sounds more classy / educated.  Though, barring a sociological study, I can't give you any proof.


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## Locape

Salut à toi, martien et bienvenue sur les forums WR, *Namolo Kaman* !


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