gèlent

Gèlent is the third-person plural present tense form of the French verb geler, meaning “they freeze” or “they are freezing.” The infinitive geler denotes the action of turning to ice, cooling something to below the freezing point, or preserving by freezing.

Conjugation notes: geler is irregular in the present tense. The full present forms are: je gèle, tu gèles, il gèle, nous gelons, vous gélez, ils gèlent. The accents indicate pronunciation changes: gèle, gèles, et gèlent carry accents on the first e, while gelons and gélez do not. The past participle is gelé (masculine singular), gelés (masculine plural), gelée (feminine), gelées (feminine plural).

Usage: gèlent describes literal freezing, as in weather reports or daily observation (for example, il gèle dehors – it is freezing outside; les rivières gèlent). It also covers preservation through freezing, such as geler des aliments. In finance or administration, geler can mean to freeze funds, budgets, or accounts (par exemple, geler les dépenses, geler les comptes). In figurative language, the verb can convey a halt or cessation of activity or progress, depending on context.

Relation and form: gelé serves as the past participle and adjective (a gelé fruit, des aliments gelés). The verb comes from Old French geler, with Latin roots in gelare, and shares related forms in other Romance languages.