pencher

French

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *pendicāre, from Latin pendere (“hang”). Compare pendre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑ̃.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

pencher

1. (transitive) to tilt, tip up
2. (intransitive) to lean, list
3. (intransitive) to lean towards (an opinion, idea etc.); to be inclined (to do something)
4. (reflexive) to bend down, lean over
5. (reflexive) to look into

   Je me pencherai sur le problème. I'll look into the problem.

Conjugation

Conjugation of pencher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	pencher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	penchant /pɑ̃.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		penché /pɑ̃.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	penche /pɑ̃ʃ/	penches /pɑ̃ʃ/	penche /pɑ̃ʃ/	penchons /pɑ̃.ʃɔ̃/	penchez /pɑ̃.ʃe/	penchent /pɑ̃ʃ/
	imperfect	penchais /pɑ̃.ʃɛ/	penchais /pɑ̃.ʃɛ/	penchait /pɑ̃.ʃɛ/	penchions /pɑ̃.ʃjɔ̃/	penchiez /pɑ̃.ʃje/	penchaient /pɑ̃.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	penchai /pɑ̃.ʃe/	penchas /pɑ̃.ʃa/	pencha /pɑ̃.ʃa/	penchâmes /pɑ̃.ʃam/	penchâtes /pɑ̃.ʃat/	penchèrent /pɑ̃.ʃɛʁ/
	future	pencherai /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁe/	pencheras /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁa/	penchera /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁa/	pencherons /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁɔ̃/	pencherez /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁe/	pencheront /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	pencherais /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	pencherais /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	pencherait /pɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	pencherions /pɑ̃.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	pencheriez /pɑ̃.ʃə.ʁje/	pencheraient /pɑ̃ʃ.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	penche /pɑ̃ʃ/	penches /pɑ̃ʃ/	penche /pɑ̃ʃ/	penchions /pɑ̃.ʃjɔ̃/	penchiez /pɑ̃.ʃje/	penchent /pɑ̃ʃ/
	imperfect2	penchasse /pɑ̃.ʃas/	penchasses /pɑ̃.ʃas/	penchât /pɑ̃.ʃa/	penchassions /pɑ̃.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	penchassiez /pɑ̃.ʃa.sje/	penchassent /pɑ̃.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	penche /pɑ̃ʃ/	—	penchons /pɑ̃.ʃɔ̃/	penchez /pɑ̃.ʃe/	—
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).

Related terms

• pente (“slope, gradient”)

Further reading

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