essayer meaning

English translation of 'essayer'

Verb conjugations for essayer

Browse collins french collocations essayer, video: pronunciation of essayer.

Examples of 'essayer' in a sentence essayer

Trends of essayer.

View usage for: All Years Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

Browse alphabetically essayer

• essais en plein champ
• essayer de faire
• essayer de plaire à qn
• essayer vainement
• All FRENCH words that begin with 'E'

Related terms of essayer

• J’ai beau essayer, je n’y arrive pas.

Quick word challenge

Quiz Review

Score: 0 / 5

Wordle Helper

Scrabble Tools

• 1.1 Etymology
• 2.1 Etymology
• 2.2 Pronunciation
• 2.3.1 Conjugation
• 2.3.2 Related terms
• 2.4 Further reading
• 2.5 Paronyms
• 2.6 Anagrams
• 3.1.1 Conjugation
• 4.1.1 Synonyms

English [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ].

From essay +‎ -er .

Noun [ edit ]

essayer ( plural essayers )

• ( obsolete ) One who performs an essay ; an experimenter .

French [ edit ]

Inherited from Middle French essayer , essaier , from Old French essaiier , essayer , essaier , from essay , essai ( “ attempt; assay; experiment ” ) + -er ( “ infinitive-forming suffix ” ) , from Late Latin exagium ( “ weight; weighing, testing on the balance ” ) , from Latin exigere + -ium , from ex- + agere , from Proto-Italic *agō , from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti .

Pronunciation [ edit ]

• IPA ( key ) : /e.sɛ.je/ , /e.se.je/

Verb [ edit ]

• ( transitive ) to test , to try on Essayez cette chemise. ― Try this shirt on .
• 2018 , Zaz, Résigne-moi : J ’essaie vraiment d ’ t’aider sans m’oublier. I'm truly trying to help you without forgetting myself.
• ( reflexive , transitive with à ) to try one's hand at s’essayer à quelque chose ― to try one's hand at something

Conjugation [ edit ]

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).

Related terms [ edit ]

• bien essayé

Further reading [ edit ]

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

Paronyms [ edit ]

Anagrams [ edit ].

• ressaye , ressayé

Middle French [ edit ]

• ( transitive ) to test
• ( with "de" ) to try
• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål [ edit ]

essayer   n

• indefinite singular of essay

Synonyms [ edit ]

• English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)
• English lemmas
• English nouns
• English countable nouns
• English terms with obsolete senses
• French terms inherited from Middle French
• French terms derived from Middle French
• French terms inherited from Old French
• French terms derived from Old French
• French terms derived from Late Latin
• French terms derived from Latin
• French terms derived from Proto-Italic
• French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
• French 3-syllable words
• French terms with IPA pronunciation
• French terms with audio links
• French lemmas
• French verbs
• French transitive verbs
• French terms with usage examples
• French terms with quotations
• French reflexive verbs
• French verbs with conjugation -ayer
• French first group verbs
• Middle French lemmas
• Middle French verbs
• Middle French transitive verbs
• Middle French first group verbs
• Norwegian Bokmål non-lemma forms
• Norwegian Bokmål noun forms
• Quotation templates to be cleaned

Navigation menu

Essayer Meaning & Translation – To try in French

By: Author David Issokson

Posted on Published: January 7, 2024  - Last updated: January 22, 2024

In today’s lesson we’ll have a look at the verb essayer , which means “to try”. For example, j’essaie d’apprendre le français (I try to learn French). Let’s jump right into the lesson!

Essayer Meaning & Translation

Word origin.

According to Wiktionary.org , the French verb essayer is related to the noun essai (try, attempt), which comes from the Latin verb exigere (to judge, examine, weigh) and noun exagium (weight, balance).

Present tense conjugation

Essayer is a regular ER verb. This means that its endings are the same as all other French regular ER verbs when conjugated in the present tense. Essayer has two accepted spelling patterns in the present tense. The pronunciations are the exact same.

J’essaie I try Tu essaies You try (singular, informal) Il, elle essaie He, she tries Nous essayons We try Vous essayez You try (plural, formal) Ils, elles essaient They try

J’essaye I try Tu essayes You try (singular, informal) Il, elle essaye He, she tries Nous essayons We try Vous essayez You try (plural, formal) Ils, elles essayent They try

Example sentences

In our first example sentence, essayer is simply “to try”. This example uses the word jamais (never), which we cover in our French negations lesson .

Si tu n’essaies pas, tu ne réussiras jamais.

If you don’ try, you’ll never succeed.

Essayer de + infinitive

In these two example sentnces, essayer de + infinitive means “to try to do something”.

J’essaie de chanter la chanson mais c’est très difficile.

I try to sing the song but it’s very difficult.

Je vais essayer de terminer mon projet avant demain.

I’ll try to finish my project before tomorrow

Essayer + noun

In the next two examples, essayer is followed by a noun, meaning “to try something”. Essayer can also translate to “to test”. Hence, “I test the skis” could also work as a translation for this next sentence.

The les in this example sentence is a direct object pronoun, meaning “them”. This post on our site covers object pronouns in depth.

J’essaie les nouveaux skis avant de les acheter.

I try the new skies before buying them.

Nous allons essayer le nouveau restaurant ce soir.

We are going to try the new restaurant tonight.

In French, the noun essai transaltes to “try” or “attempt” and is the origin of the English word “essay”.

Il a réussi son examen au troisième essai.

He passed the exam after the third try.

Et voilà ! You now know how to use essayer in French! Now check out our other lessons covering the verbs quitter (to leave) , bosser (to work hard) and ranger (to tidy, put away) .

Sharing is caring!

Affiliate disclosure: Below you will find affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking the link, we will receive a small commission. To learn more please visit our full disclosure page . Merci!

Read our full review of À Moi Paris and find out why we love it so much!

Read our full review of French Verb Drills and find out why we recommend this course!

David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

See all posts by David Issokson