Côtoyer Conjugation: All Tenses of the French Verb “côtoyer”
Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed August 2026
Côtoyer means to be alongside someone or something on a regular basis: the people you work near, the worlds you move through. It is a -yer verb, so the y turns into an i whenever the ending after it is silent.
Côtoyer comes from côte, a side or a coast, and it started out meaning to travel along the edge of something. That literal sense survives (une route qui côtoie la rivière), but you will meet it far more often about people: côtoyer des artistes, côtoyer des collègues de tous les horizons. It belongs to careful writing and to job interviews rather than to casual chat, which makes it a useful word to recognise even before you produce it. The pattern it follows is shared by nettoyer, employer and envoyer, so the spelling rule is worth getting right once.
Everything depends on whether the ending after the stem is pronounced. When it is silent, the y becomes i: je côtoie, tu côtoies, il côtoie, ils côtoient. When the ending is pronounced, the y stays: nous côtoyons, vous côtoyez, and the whole imparfait, je côtoyais. The future and conditional are the trap, because they keep the i all the way through even though the endings are pronounced: je côtoierai, je côtoierais. Two forms end up with an odd-looking yi sequence you should not simplify: nous côtoyions and vous côtoyiez, in the imparfait and in the subjunctive. The circumflex on the o never moves, and the past participle is côtoyé.
Côtoyer in context
Présent
Dans ce métier, on côtoie des gens de tous les milieux. In this line of work, you come into contact with people from every background.
Imparfait
Étudiante, elle côtoyait des chercheurs venus du monde entier. As a student, she was surrounded by researchers from all over the world.
Passé composé
Nous avons côtoyé les mêmes équipes pendant dix ans. We worked alongside the same teams for ten years.
Futur simple
Tu côtoieras beaucoup de francophones dans cette école. You'll be around a lot of French speakers at that school.
Subjonctif présent
Il faut que je côtoie davantage de locuteurs natifs pour progresser. I need to spend more time around native speakers if I want to improve.
Common mistakes with côtoyer
Keeping the y before a silent ending
✗ Je côtoye des architectes toute la journée.
✓ Je côtoie des architectes toute la journée. — I'm around architects all day.
A -yer verb swaps y for i whenever the ending that follows is not pronounced, which covers je, tu, il and ils in the present. Côtoye is never a form; the same rule gives j'emploie and je nettoie.
Writing the future with a y
✗ Tu côtoyeras des professionnels du secteur.
✓ Tu côtoieras des professionnels du secteur. — You'll be working alongside people from the industry.
The future and conditional of -oyer and -uyer verbs are built on the i stem, not the infinitive: je côtoierai, je côtoierais. The i survives even though the ending is pronounced, which is the one place the silent-ending rule does not explain the spelling.
Losing the circumflex on the o
✗ Nous cotoyons les mêmes personnes depuis des années.
✓ Nous côtoyons les mêmes personnes depuis des années. — We've been around the same people for years.
The accent is part of the stem because the verb is built on côte. It stays in every form, including côtoyé and côtoierai. Cotoyer without the accent is simply a misspelling, not a variant.
Expressions with côtoyer
côtoyer le ridicule
to border on the absurd
côtoyer la mort
to have close brushes with death
côtoyer du beau monde
to mix with important people
Frequently asked questions
Is côtoyer a regular verb?
No. Its endings are the ordinary -er endings, so it is a first-group verb. What moves is the stem, which alternates between côtoi- and côtoy-, and some tables file it with the irregulars for that reason. Once you know that the y becomes i before a silent ending, and that the future keeps the i throughout, the whole table is predictable.
What is the past participle of côtoyer?
Côtoyé, with the y intact, giving j'ai côtoyé. The verb takes avoir, and the participle agrees when a direct object comes first: les milieux qu'elle a côtoyés. The i spelling never appears in the participle.
Why does the y change to i in je côtoie?
Because the ending -e is silent. French avoids leaving a y in front of a mute ending, so the stem becomes côtoi-. You hear the difference too: nous côtoyons has a y-glide between the vowels, while je côtoie ends on the vowel.
What is the difference between côtoyer and fréquenter?
Fréquenter means you deliberately spend time with someone or somewhere: elle fréquente ce café. Côtoyer is more passive and often circumstantial, describing people you find yourself alongside because of your work or your life. You can côtoyer colleagues you never actually talk to.
How do you pronounce côtoyer?
Three syllables, roughly koh-twah-YAY: the oy spelling gives the sound of oi followed by a y-glide. In je côtoie the glide falls away and you are left with koh-TWAH. Ils côtoient sounds exactly like je côtoie, since the -ent ending is silent.