abaisser

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French abaissier, from a (“to, towards”) + baissier (“to lower”). See Modern French à, baisser.

Pronunciation

• (Europe) IPA^(key): /a.bɛ.se/ ~ /a.be.se/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /a.bɛː.se/
• Homophones: abaissai, abaissé, abaissée, abaissées, abaissés, abaissez

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

abaisser

1. (literally, transitive) to lower; to reduce; to bring down
2. (reflexive, transitive) to come or go down; to descend
3. (figuratively, reflexive, transitive) to humble oneself, demean oneself, stoop; abase, degrade, humiliate
4. (cooking) to roll out (the dough)

Conjugation

Conjugation of abaisser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	abaisser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	abaissant /a.bɛ.sɑ̃/ or /a.be.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		abaissé /a.bɛ.se/ or /a.be.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	abaisse /a.bɛs/	abaisses /a.bɛs/	abaisse /a.bɛs/	abaissons /a.bɛ.sɔ̃/ or /a.be.sɔ̃/	abaissez /a.bɛ.se/ or /a.be.se/	abaissent /a.bɛs/
	imperfect	abaissais /a.bɛ.sɛ/ or /a.be.sɛ/	abaissais /a.bɛ.sɛ/ or /a.be.sɛ/	abaissait /a.bɛ.sɛ/ or /a.be.sɛ/	abaissions /a.bɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.sjɔ̃/	abaissiez /a.bɛ.sje/ or /a.be.sje/	abaissaient /a.bɛ.sɛ/ or /a.be.sɛ/
	past historic2	abaissai /a.bɛ.se/ or /a.be.se/	abaissas /a.bɛ.sa/ or /a.be.sa/	abaissa /a.bɛ.sa/ or /a.be.sa/	abaissâmes /a.bɛ.sam/ or /a.be.sam/	abaissâtes /a.bɛ.sat/ or /a.be.sat/	abaissèrent /a.bɛ.sɛʁ/ or /a.be.sɛʁ/
	future	abaisserai /a.bɛ.sʁe/ or /a.be.sʁe/	abaisseras /a.bɛ.sʁa/ or /a.be.sʁa/	abaissera /a.bɛ.sʁa/ or /a.be.sʁa/	abaisserons /a.bɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /a.be.sʁɔ̃/	abaisserez /a.bɛ.sʁe/ or /a.be.sʁe/	abaisseront /a.bɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /a.be.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	abaisserais /a.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /a.be.sʁɛ/	abaisserais /a.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /a.be.sʁɛ/	abaisserait /a.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /a.be.sʁɛ/	abaisserions /a.bɛ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.be.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	abaisseriez /a.bɛ.sə.ʁje/ or /a.be.sə.ʁje/	abaisseraient /a.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /a.be.sʁɛ/
(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	abaisse /a.bɛs/	abaisses /a.bɛs/	abaisse /a.bɛs/	abaissions /a.bɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.sjɔ̃/	abaissiez /a.bɛ.sje/ or /a.be.sje/	abaissent /a.bɛs/
	imperfect2	abaissasse /a.bɛ.sas/ or /a.be.sas/	abaissasses /a.bɛ.sas/ or /a.be.sas/	abaissât /a.bɛ.sa/ or /a.be.sa/	abaissassions /a.bɛ.sa.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.sa.sjɔ̃/	abaissassiez /a.bɛ.sa.sje/ or /a.be.sa.sje/	abaissassent /a.bɛ.sas/ or /a.be.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	abaisse /a.bɛs/	—	abaissons /a.bɛ.sɔ̃/ or /a.be.sɔ̃/	abaissez /a.bɛ.se/ or /a.be.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: 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).

Conjugation of s'abaisser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'abaisser
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’abaissant /sa.bɛ.sɑ̃/ or /sa.be.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		abaissé /a.bɛ.se/ or /a.be.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’abaisse /ma.bɛs/	t’abaisses /ta.bɛs/	s’abaisse /sa.bɛs/	nous abaissons /nu.z‿a.bɛ.sɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.be.sɔ̃/	vous abaissez /vu.z‿a.bɛ.se/ or /vu.z‿a.be.se/	s’abaissent /sa.bɛs/
	imperfect	m’abaissais /ma.bɛ.sɛ/ or /ma.be.sɛ/	t’abaissais /ta.bɛ.sɛ/ or /ta.be.sɛ/	s’abaissait /sa.bɛ.sɛ/ or /sa.be.sɛ/	nous abaissions /nu.z‿a.bɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.be.sjɔ̃/	vous abaissiez /vu.z‿a.bɛ.sje/ or /vu.z‿a.be.sje/	s’abaissaient /sa.bɛ.sɛ/ or /sa.be.sɛ/
	past historic2	m’abaissai /ma.bɛ.se/ or /ma.be.se/	t’abaissas /ta.bɛ.sa/ or /ta.be.sa/	s’abaissa /sa.bɛ.sa/ or /sa.be.sa/	nous abaissâmes /nu.z‿a.bɛ.sam/ or /nu.z‿a.be.sam/	vous abaissâtes /vu.z‿a.bɛ.sat/ or /vu.z‿a.be.sat/	s’abaissèrent /sa.bɛ.sɛʁ/ or /sa.be.sɛʁ/
	future	m’abaisserai /ma.bɛ.sʁe/ or /ma.be.sʁe/	t’abaisseras /ta.bɛ.sʁa/ or /ta.be.sʁa/	s’abaissera /sa.bɛ.sʁa/ or /sa.be.sʁa/	nous abaisserons /nu.z‿a.bɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.be.sʁɔ̃/	vous abaisserez /vu.z‿a.bɛ.sʁe/ or /vu.z‿a.be.sʁe/	s’abaisseront /sa.bɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /sa.be.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’abaisserais /ma.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /ma.be.sʁɛ/	t’abaisserais /ta.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /ta.be.sʁɛ/	s’abaisserait /sa.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /sa.be.sʁɛ/	nous abaisserions /nu.z‿a.bɛ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.be.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous abaisseriez /vu.z‿a.bɛ.sə.ʁje/ or /vu.z‿a.be.sə.ʁje/	s’abaisseraient /sa.bɛ.sʁɛ/ or /sa.be.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’abaisse /ma.bɛs/	t’abaisses /ta.bɛs/	s’abaisse /sa.bɛs/	nous abaissions /nu.z‿a.bɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.be.sjɔ̃/	vous abaissiez /vu.z‿a.bɛ.sje/ or /vu.z‿a.be.sje/	s’abaissent /sa.bɛs/
	imperfect2	m’abaissasse /ma.bɛ.sas/ or /ma.be.sas/	t’abaissasses /ta.bɛ.sas/ or /ta.be.sas/	s’abaissât /sa.bɛ.sa/ or /sa.be.sa/	nous abaissassions /nu.z‿a.bɛ.sa.sjɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.be.sa.sjɔ̃/	vous abaissassiez /vu.z‿a.bɛ.sa.sje/ or /vu.z‿a.be.sa.sje/	s’abaissassent /sa.bɛ.sas/ or /sa.be.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	abaisse-toi /a.bɛs.twa/	—	abaissons-nous /a.bɛ.sɔ̃.nu/ or /a.be.sɔ̃.nu/	abaissez-vous /a.bɛ.se.vu/ or /a.be.se.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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).

Antonyms

• élever
• hausser
• glorifier

Derived terms

• abaissable
• abaissant
• abaissement m
• abaisseur m & adjective

 

Related terms

• à bas
• abas

 

Descendants

• English: to abase
• Mauritian Creole: abese

References

• Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• abriasse, baiseras, baissera, baserais, ébraisas, ébrasais, rabaisse, rabaissé