Encouragée

Encouragée is the feminine singular form of the past participle of the French verb encourager. It can function as an adjective meaning “encouraged” or appear in compound tenses with the auxiliary être to form the passive voice, in which case it agrees with the subject: Elle a été encouragée; elles ont été encouragées. It can also modify a feminine noun in adjectival use: une initiative encouragée par le gouvernement.

Forms of the participle include: encouragé (masculine singular), encouragée (feminine singular), encouragés (masculine plural), et encouragées (feminine plural). When used as an adjective, the form must agree with the noun it modifies. The corresponding present participle is encourageant (masc) or encourageante (fem), used to describe something that encourages or is encouraging.

Etymology and meaning: encouragée comes from the verb encourager, which derives from en- plus courage (from Latin cor, heart). The core sense is to give someone courage, confidence, or support, and by extension to promote or foster a course of action.

Usage notes: encouragée is common in formal and narrative contexts to describe someone who has received encouragement. It contrasts with the masculine form encouragé and with the adjective encourageant/ encourageante, which describe actions or qualities that encourage rather than the state of having been encouraged. In everyday speech, one may also encounter phrases like des actions encouragées par les autorités meaning “actions that have been encouraged by the authorities.”