extinguées

Extinguées is the feminine plural past participle form of the verb extinguer, which means to extinguish. As an adjective, extinguées describes something that has been put out or quashed. The base past participle is extingué, with feminine singular extinguée and feminine plural extinguées (the masculine forms are extinct, extingué, and extincts, respectively). This form is distinct from the related but more common adjective éteint/éteinte, which also means extinguished but comes from the verb éteindre.

Etymology and related forms: extinguuer comes from Latin exstinguere, through Old French estinguer. The development gives rise to the modern French past participle extingué, and its feminine plural extinguées when used as an adjective or in perfect tenses with the auxiliary avoir, where the participle agrees with a preceding feminine plural direct object.

Usage and grammar: extinguées is used when the past participle of extinguer modifies a feminine plural noun or is part of a compound tense with appropriate agreement. For example: Les flammes ont été extinguées. Here the auxiliary aider verb être is used in a passive-like construction, and the participle agrees with the feminine plural subject les flammes. In relative clauses, agreement can also occur: Les flammes que nous avons extinguées montre que the object precedes the participle. In everyday usage, éteindre and its participle éteint/éteinte are more common, but extinguuer and extinguées remain correct in formal, technical, or legal style.

See also: extinguiture, extinction, éteindre.