payer
French, verb/pɛ.je/
payer is a French verb meaning “to pay (for)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Donner de l’argent pour un bien ou un service”.
What does payer mean in English?
verb
- 1
to pay (for)
payer une amende
- 2
to pay (someone)
payer la caissière
- 3
to buy (something)
Nous payons les courses.
- 4
pay for (suffer the consequences of something)
Tu vas payer pour ce que tu as fait à ma sœur.
- 5
to pay off (to be fruitful)
Mes efforts ont payé.
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Donner de l’argent pour un bien ou un service. 2. Régler un impôt ou un droit. 3. Acquitter une dette. 4. Satisfaire à quelque chose que l’on compare à une dette à l’égard d'autrui.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of payer
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- payant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- payé participle past
- paye first-person indicative present
- paie first-person indicative present
- payes indicative present second-person
- paies indicative present second-person
- payons first-person indicative plural
- payez indicative plural present
- payent indicative plural present
- paient indicative plural present
- payais first-person imperfect indicative
- payait imperfect indicative singular
- payions first-person imperfect indicative
- payiez imperfect indicative plural
- payaient imperfect indicative plural
- payai first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce payer?
- /pɛ.je/
- /pe.je/
- \pe.je\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to payer
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is payer in French?
payer appears 102 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).