Bonjour à toutes et à tous ! Welcome to our weekly word study, where we learn and analyze a specific word in French.
Today’s word : Dorloter in French.
Dorloter in French – Écouter
The word Dorloter in French is a verb. What does it mean and how do we conjugate it?
Dorloter in French – What does it mean?
1. Entourer quelqu’un de soins attentifs et délicats.
Dorloter in French means “to pamper, cherish or coddle someone”. It’s about showing affection and taking care of someone.
Exemple : Marie dorlote son chat. (Marie pampers her cat.)
Dorloter – Where does it come from?
“Dorloter” is a word that was originally related to jewelry. In the 13th century, “un dorelot” was actually a piece of hair jewelry. Later, in the 19th century, the noun “dorloterie” was linked to trimmings and their manufacture.
Nowadays, those words have disappeared, and the verb “dorloter” in French is leaning towards the image of caring for someone.
How to conjugate the verb Dorloter in French
The verb Dorloter in French is a regular verb from the first group (verbs in -ER).
This is how you conjugate it in the present tense (le présent de l’indicatif):
Je dorlote
Tu dorlotes
Il / elle / on dorlote
Nous dorlotons
Vous dorlotez
Ils / elles dorlotent
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Construct sentences with Dorloter
You can simply use the verb “dorloter” to mention someone caring for someone else (or something).
In our sentence, “Marie dorlote son chat“, Marie is the subject of our sentence. She is the one doing the action.
However, the expression “se faire dorloter” is also very common, and means “being pampered or taken good care of”.
In that case, the subject of that sentence is the person, the animal or the object that is being taken care of.
Let’s see another example :
Le chat de Marie se fait dorloter. (Marie’s cat is being pampered.)
In that last sentence, the subject is “le chat de Marie“.
If you want to use that expression, it’s important to only conjugate the verb “se faire” and not “dorloter”.
“Se faire + infinitive” is a structure used to show that the subject is being acted upon, in a passive sense. The subject has something done to him/herself. It’s frequently used in the passive mode.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this week’s word. If you would like to check out more words, click here!
