retracer

English

Etymology

retrace +‎ -er

Noun

retracer (plural retracers)

1. One who retraces.

French

Etymology

re- +‎ tracer.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

retracer

1. (transitive) to recount, to tell

   Synonym: raconter

   retracer les glorieux exploits d’un héros

   to recount a hero's glorious exploits

2. (transitive) to redraw, to draw again

   Ce dessin n’est pas bien tracé, il faut le retracer.

   This picture is not drawn well, it needs to be redrawn.

   Tout le retrace à mes yeux.

   Everything reminds me of it.

   (literally, “Everything redraws it to my eyes.”)

3. (reflexive) to remember

   Synonym: se rappeler

   Je m’en retrace parfaitement bien l’image.

   I remember its image perfectly well.

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of retracer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	retracer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	retraçant /ʁə.tʁa.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		retracé /ʁə.tʁa.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	retrace /ʁə.tʁas/	retraces /ʁə.tʁas/	retrace /ʁə.tʁas/	retraçons /ʁə.tʁa.sɔ̃/	retracez /ʁə.tʁa.se/	retracent /ʁə.tʁas/
	imperfect	retraçais /ʁə.tʁa.sɛ/	retraçais /ʁə.tʁa.sɛ/	retraçait /ʁə.tʁa.sɛ/	retracions /ʁə.tʁa.sjɔ̃/	retraciez /ʁə.tʁa.sje/	retraçaient /ʁə.tʁa.sɛ/
	past historic2	retraçai /ʁə.tʁa.se/	retraças /ʁə.tʁa.sa/	retraça /ʁə.tʁa.sa/	retraçâmes /ʁə.tʁa.sam/	retraçâtes /ʁə.tʁa.sat/	retracèrent /ʁə.tʁa.sɛʁ/
	future	retracerai /ʁə.tʁa.sʁe/	retraceras /ʁə.tʁa.sʁa/	retracera /ʁə.tʁa.sʁa/	retracerons /ʁə.tʁa.sʁɔ̃/	retracerez /ʁə.tʁa.sʁe/	retraceront /ʁə.tʁa.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	retracerais /ʁə.tʁa.sʁɛ/	retracerais /ʁə.tʁa.sʁɛ/	retracerait /ʁə.tʁa.sʁɛ/	retracerions /ʁə.tʁa.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	retraceriez /ʁə.tʁa.sə.ʁje/	retraceraient /ʁə.tʁa.sʁɛ/
(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	retrace /ʁə.tʁas/	retraces /ʁə.tʁas/	retrace /ʁə.tʁas/	retracions /ʁə.tʁa.sjɔ̃/	retraciez /ʁə.tʁa.sje/	retracent /ʁə.tʁas/
	imperfect2	retraçasse /ʁə.tʁa.sas/	retraçasses /ʁə.tʁa.sas/	retraçât /ʁə.tʁa.sa/	retraçassions /ʁə.tʁa.sa.sjɔ̃/	retraçassiez /ʁə.tʁa.sa.sje/	retraçassent /ʁə.tʁa.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	retrace /ʁə.tʁas/	—	retraçons /ʁə.tʁa.sɔ̃/	retracez /ʁə.tʁa.se/	—
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).

Further reading

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