répands

Répands is the first-person singular present indicative form of the French verb répandre. It denotes the act of spreading or disseminating something, whether physical (substances) or abstract (information, ideas, emotions) from a source to others. In use, it emphasizes distribution over a space or among people.

Conjugation and usage. In the present tense, the paradigm is: je répands, tu répands, il répand, nous répandons, vous répandez, ils répandent. The verb is transitive and commonly paired with a direct object, as in je répands des informations, il répand une rumeur, or nous répandons la poussière. It is related to the noun répandage, meaning the act or process of spreading, and to the adjective répandu, meaning widespread or dispersed.

Etymology and range of meaning. Répandre comes from a Latin root such as repandere, with the prefix re- and the core pandere “to spread.” In modern French, répandre covers both literal spreading (poussière qui se répand, liquide qui se répand) and figurative dissemination (nouvelles, idées, croyances). The choice of term can convey whether the spread is intentional, accidental, rapid, or extensive.

Tense forms and related uses. The past participle is répandu, used with an auxiliary avoir in compound tenses (par exemple: ils ont répandu des rumeurs). The verb also forms various tenses and moods (imparfait répandais/ répandais, subjonctif répande, répandes, répande, etc.), enabling nuanced description of spreading actions across time. In synonyms, répandre is often contrasted with diffuser (to diffuse) or éparpiller (to scatter).