Répresenter

Répresenter is a French verb most commonly written as représenter. It denotes several related ideas tied to presenting or standing for something: to represent in the sense of depicting or portraying; to stand for or symbolize; to present or perform before an audience; and to act as a spokesperson or delegate for a person, group, or institution. The spelling répresenter without the circumflex on the first e is not the standard form in modern French and is generally considered a misspelling.

Etymology and senses

Représenter derives from the Latin repraesentare, meaning to present before. In French, the verb covers both pictorial or verbal representation (a painting represents a scene; a description represents a situation) and representational roles (one person represents a region or a group). It also encompasses the sense of presenting something officially or on behalf of others, such as representing a company or a country at an event.

Conjugation and usage

In the present tense, the verb is conjugated as: je représente, tu représentes, il représente, nous représentons, vous représentez, ils représentent. Related tenses include j’ai représenté (passé composé), je représentais (imparfait), je représenterai (futur), que je représente (subjonctif), and représentez (impératif). The noun forme is représentation (the act or result of representing), while the agent noun is représentant (representative).

Common contexts

As a verb, représenter is used in art (to depict), politics or law (to represent clients or constituents), and communication (to present information). It also appears in mathematics and data contexts as “représenter” a function or data set, with terms like représentation graphique (graphical representation). Related terms include représentant, représentatif, and représentation.

See also

représentation, représentant, représentatif.