abêtir
French edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
abêtir
- (transitive, intransitive, ergative) to dumb down, render dumb, dim-witted; to deaden the mind of
- (reflexive, ergative) to become dim-witted and foolish
Usage notes edit
- Abrutir is a close synonym, but unlike that term abêtir implies a slower, progressive process, which abrutir does not necessarily do.
Conjugation edit
This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.
Conjugation of abêtir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | abêtir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | abêtissant /a.bɛ.ti.sɑ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | abêti /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
abêtit /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
abêtissons /a.bɛ.ti.sɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sɔ̃/ |
abêtissez /a.bɛ.ti.se/ or /a.be.ti.se/ |
abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
| imperfect | abêtissais /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ |
abêtissais /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ |
abêtissait /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ |
abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sjɔ̃/ |
abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ or /a.be.ti.sje/ |
abêtissaient /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
abêtit /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
abêtîmes /a.bɛ.tim/ or /a.be.tim/ |
abêtîtes /a.bɛ.tit/ or /a.be.tit/ |
abêtirent /a.bɛ.tiʁ/ or /a.be.tiʁ/ | |
| future | abêtirai /a.bɛ.ti.ʁe/ or /a.be.ti.ʁe/ |
abêtiras /a.bɛ.ti.ʁa/ or /a.be.ti.ʁa/ |
abêtira /a.bɛ.ti.ʁa/ or /a.be.ti.ʁa/ |
abêtirons /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɔ̃/ |
abêtirez /a.bɛ.ti.ʁe/ or /a.be.ti.ʁe/ |
abêtiront /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | abêtirais /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɛ/ |
abêtirais /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɛ/ |
abêtirait /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɛ/ |
abêtirions /a.bɛ.ti.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.ʁjɔ̃/ |
abêtiriez /a.bɛ.ti.ʁje/ or /a.be.ti.ʁje/ |
abêtiraient /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
abêtisses /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sjɔ̃/ |
abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ or /a.be.ti.sje/ |
abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
| imperfect2 | abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
abêtisses /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
abêtît /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sjɔ̃/ |
abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ or /a.be.ti.sje/ |
abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ |
— | abêtissons /a.bɛ.ti.sɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sɔ̃/ |
abêtissez /a.bɛ.ti.se/ or /a.be.ti.se/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “abêtir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.