sous-payer

French

Etymology

From sous- +‎ payer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.pɛ.je/, /su.pe.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

sous-payer

1. (transitive) to underpay

   Coordinate term: surpayer

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer, the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of sous-payer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	sous-payer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	sous-payant /su.pɛ.jɑ̃/ or /su.pe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		sous-payé /su.pɛ.je/ or /su.pe.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sous-paye or sous-paie /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/	sous-payes or sous-paies /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/	sous-paye or sous-paie /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/	sous-payons /su.pɛ.jɔ̃/ or /su.pe.jɔ̃/	sous-payez /su.pɛ.je/ or /su.pe.je/	sous-payent or sous-paient /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/
	imperfect	sous-payais /su.pɛ.jɛ/ or /su.pe.jɛ/	sous-payais /su.pɛ.jɛ/ or /su.pe.jɛ/	sous-payait /su.pɛ.jɛ/ or /su.pe.jɛ/	sous-payions /su.pɛj.jɔ̃/	sous-payiez /su.pɛj.je/	sous-payaient /su.pɛ.jɛ/ or /su.pe.jɛ/
	past historic2	sous-payai /su.pɛ.je/ or /su.pe.je/	sous-payas /su.pɛ.ja/ or /su.pe.ja/	sous-paya /su.pɛ.ja/ or /su.pe.ja/	sous-payâmes /su.pɛ.jam/ or /su.pe.jam/	sous-payâtes /su.pɛ.jat/ or /su.pe.jat/	sous-payèrent /su.pɛ.jɛʁ/ or /su.pe.jɛʁ/
	future	sous-payerai or sous-paierai /su.pɛj.ʁe/ or /su.pɛ.ʁe/ or /su.pe.ʁe/	sous-payeras or sous-paieras /su.pɛj.ʁa/ or /su.pɛ.ʁa/ or /su.pe.ʁa/	sous-payera or sous-paiera /su.pɛj.ʁa/ or /su.pɛ.ʁa/ or /su.pe.ʁa/	sous-payerons or sous-paierons /su.pɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /su.pɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /su.pe.ʁɔ̃/	sous-payerez or sous-paierez /su.pɛj.ʁe/ or /su.pɛ.ʁe/ or /su.pe.ʁe/	sous-payeront or sous-paieront /su.pɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /su.pɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /su.pe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	sous-payerais or sous-paierais /su.pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /su.pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /su.pe.ʁɛ/	sous-payerais or sous-paierais /su.pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /su.pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /su.pe.ʁɛ/	sous-payerait or sous-paierait /su.pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /su.pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /su.pe.ʁɛ/	sous-payerions or sous-paierions /su.pɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /su.pe.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /su.pɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /su.pe.ʁjɔ̃/	sous-payeriez or sous-paieriez /su.pɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /su.pe.jə.ʁje/ or /su.pɛ.ʁje/ or /su.pe.ʁje/	sous-payeraient or sous-paieraient /su.pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /su.pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /su.pe.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	sous-paye or sous-paie /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/	sous-payes or sous-paies /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/	sous-paye or sous-paie /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/	sous-payions /su.pɛj.jɔ̃/	sous-payiez /su.pɛj.je/	sous-payent or sous-paient /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/
	imperfect2	sous-payasse /su.pɛ.jas/ or /su.pe.jas/	sous-payasses /su.pɛ.jas/ or /su.pe.jas/	sous-payât /su.pɛ.ja/ or /su.pe.ja/	sous-payassions /su.pɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /su.pe.ja.sjɔ̃/	sous-payassiez /su.pɛ.ja.sje/ or /su.pe.ja.sje/	sous-payassent /su.pɛ.jas/ or /su.pe.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sous-paye or sous-paie /su.pɛj/ or /su.pɛ/	—	sous-payons /su.pɛ.jɔ̃/ or /su.pe.jɔ̃/	sous-payez /su.pɛ.je/ or /su.pe.je/	—
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

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