berner
See also: Berner
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Old French bren (“bran, excrement”), with metathesis (circa 1480s), having first had the meaning of "vanner le blé" or the scatological meaning of "fouiller d'excréments" present in Rabelais' writings. For semantic development, compare terms like shit talk.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
berner
- (transitive) to trick, to fool, to take in, to run circles around, to hoodwink
- Il s’est fait complètement berner.
- He was completely taken in.
- 1924, Emmanuel Bove, Mes Amis[1]:
- À présent, les deux amants devaient regarder le billet en transparence, comme une plaque photographique, pour s’assurer qu’il était bon. L’impression d’avoir été berné me rendait nerveux.
- Right now, the two lovers must have been holding the note up to the light like a photographic plate to check that it was real. The feeling that I had been tricked was making me nervous.
Conjugation edit
Conjugation of berner (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | berner | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | bernant /bɛʁ.nɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | berné /bɛʁ.ne/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | berne /bɛʁn/ |
bernes /bɛʁn/ |
berne /bɛʁn/ |
bernons /bɛʁ.nɔ̃/ |
bernez /bɛʁ.ne/ |
bernent /bɛʁn/ |
| imperfect | bernais /bɛʁ.nɛ/ |
bernais /bɛʁ.nɛ/ |
bernait /bɛʁ.nɛ/ |
bernions /bɛʁ.njɔ̃/ |
berniez /bɛʁ.nje/ |
bernaient /bɛʁ.nɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | bernai /bɛʁ.ne/ |
bernas /bɛʁ.na/ |
berna /bɛʁ.na/ |
bernâmes /bɛʁ.nam/ |
bernâtes /bɛʁ.nat/ |
bernèrent /bɛʁ.nɛʁ/ | |
| future | bernerai /bɛʁ.nə.ʁe/ |
berneras /bɛʁ.nə.ʁa/ |
bernera /bɛʁ.nə.ʁa/ |
bernerons /bɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/ |
bernerez /bɛʁ.nə.ʁe/ |
berneront /bɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | bernerais /bɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/ |
bernerais /bɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/ |
bernerait /bɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/ |
bernerions /bɛʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
berneriez /bɛʁ.nə.ʁje/ |
berneraient /bɛʁ.nə.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 | berne /bɛʁn/ |
bernes /bɛʁn/ |
berne /bɛʁn/ |
bernions /bɛʁ.njɔ̃/ |
berniez /bɛʁ.nje/ |
bernent /bɛʁn/ |
| imperfect2 | bernasse /bɛʁ.nas/ |
bernasses /bɛʁ.nas/ |
bernât /bɛʁ.na/ |
bernassions /bɛʁ.na.sjɔ̃/ |
bernassiez /bɛʁ.na.sje/ |
bernassent /bɛʁ.nas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | berne /bɛʁn/ |
— | bernons /bɛʁ.nɔ̃/ |
bernez /bɛʁ.ne/ |
— | |
| 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). | |||||||
Further reading edit
- “berner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.