chigner

French

Etymology

Formed by apheresis from rechigner.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Verb

chigner (intransitive)

1. (informal, derogatory) to whine, moan, complain, or grumble in a childish manner. (followed by de to mean "about")

   Synonym: pleurnicher

Conjugation

Conjugation of chigner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	chigner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	chignant /ʃi.ɲɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		chigné /ʃi.ɲe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	chigne /ʃiɲ/	chignes /ʃiɲ/	chigne /ʃiɲ/	chignons /ʃi.ɲɔ̃/	chignez /ʃi.ɲe/	chignent /ʃiɲ/
	imperfect	chignais /ʃi.ɲɛ/	chignais /ʃi.ɲɛ/	chignait /ʃi.ɲɛ/	chignions /ʃi.ɲjɔ̃/	chigniez /ʃi.ɲje/	chignaient /ʃi.ɲɛ/
	past historic2	chignai /ʃi.ɲe/	chignas /ʃi.ɲa/	chigna /ʃi.ɲa/	chignâmes /ʃi.ɲam/	chignâtes /ʃi.ɲat/	chignèrent /ʃi.ɲɛʁ/
	future	chignerai /ʃi.ɲə.ʁe/	chigneras /ʃi.ɲə.ʁa/	chignera /ʃi.ɲə.ʁa/	chignerons /ʃi.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/	chignerez /ʃi.ɲə.ʁe/	chigneront /ʃi.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	chignerais /ʃi.ɲə.ʁɛ/	chignerais /ʃi.ɲə.ʁɛ/	chignerait /ʃi.ɲə.ʁɛ/	chignerions /ʃi.ɲə.ʁjɔ̃/	chigneriez /ʃi.ɲə.ʁje/	chigneraient /ʃi.ɲə.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	chigne /ʃiɲ/	chignes /ʃiɲ/	chigne /ʃiɲ/	chignions /ʃi.ɲjɔ̃/	chigniez /ʃi.ɲje/	chignent /ʃiɲ/
	imperfect2	chignasse /ʃi.ɲas/	chignasses /ʃi.ɲas/	chignât /ʃi.ɲa/	chignassions /ʃi.ɲa.sjɔ̃/	chignassiez /ʃi.ɲa.sje/	chignassent /ʃi.ɲas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	chigne /ʃiɲ/	—	chignons /ʃi.ɲɔ̃/	chignez /ʃi.ɲe/	—
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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• chignard

Further reading

• “chigner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.