héler

See also: heler

French

Etymology

From Middle French heiler (“to hail”), from Middle English heilen (“to greet, call to, salute”), from hail, heil (“health”), from Old Norse heill (“health”), from Proto-Germanic *hailą (“health”), from *hailaz (“whole, hale, safe”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Old English hǣl, hǣlu (“health, safety”). More at whole.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /e.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

héler

1. to hail (call out loudly)
   • 2015 January, Virginie Despentes, Vernon Subutex, volume 1, Éditions Grasset, →ISBN, page 25:

     Il avait vu un pote, de loin, devant la salle, et l’avait hélé, content de montrer la fille avec qui il était, une brune à frange jean cigarette talons aiguilles, comme la capitale en produisait en série, au début du millénaire.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written héler-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written hèler-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

Conjugation of héler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	héler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	hélant /e.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		hélé /e.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	hèle /ɛl/	hèles /ɛl/	hèle /ɛl/	hélons /e.lɔ̃/	hélez /e.le/	hèlent /ɛl/
	imperfect	hélais /e.lɛ/	hélais /e.lɛ/	hélait /e.lɛ/	hélions /e.ljɔ̃/	héliez /e.lje/	hélaient /e.lɛ/
	past historic2	hélai /e.le/	hélas /e.la/	héla /e.la/	hélâmes /e.lam/	hélâtes /e.lat/	hélèrent /e.lɛʁ/
	future	hèlerai or hélerai /ɛl.ʁe/	hèleras or héleras /ɛl.ʁa/	hèlera or hélera /ɛl.ʁa/	hèlerons or hélerons /ɛl.ʁɔ̃/	hèlerez or hélerez /ɛl.ʁe/	hèleront or héleront /ɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	hèlerais or hélerais /ɛl.ʁɛ/	hèlerais or hélerais /ɛl.ʁɛ/	hèlerait or hélerait /ɛl.ʁɛ/	hèlerions or hélerions /ɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	hèleriez or héleriez /ɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /e.lə.ʁje/	hèleraient or héleraient /ɛl.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	hèle /ɛl/	hèles /ɛl/	hèle /ɛl/	hélions /e.ljɔ̃/	héliez /e.lje/	hèlent /ɛl/
	imperfect2	hélasse /e.las/	hélasses /e.las/	hélât /e.la/	hélassions /e.la.sjɔ̃/	hélassiez /e.la.sje/	hélassent /e.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	hèle /ɛl/	—	hélons /e.lɔ̃/	hélez /e.le/	—
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).

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: rele

Further reading

• “héler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “héler” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.