amorcer

French

Etymology

From amorce +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.mɔʁ.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

amorcer

1. to prime, set in motion
2. to begin, to get to work on (to commence a project)
3. to break ground (start construction work)
4. (computing) to boot
5. (fishing) to bait (lace with bait)
6. (fishing) to bait, chum (try to attract fish with bait)
7. to bait in, to string in, reel in
8. to bait (e.g. an enemy, to react)

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of amorcer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	amorcer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	amorçant /a.mɔʁ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		amorcé /a.mɔʁ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	amorce /a.mɔʁs/	amorces /a.mɔʁs/	amorce /a.mɔʁs/	amorçons /a.mɔʁ.sɔ̃/	amorcez /a.mɔʁ.se/	amorcent /a.mɔʁs/
	imperfect	amorçais /a.mɔʁ.sɛ/	amorçais /a.mɔʁ.sɛ/	amorçait /a.mɔʁ.sɛ/	amorcions /a.mɔʁ.sjɔ̃/	amorciez /a.mɔʁ.sje/	amorçaient /a.mɔʁ.sɛ/
	past historic2	amorçai /a.mɔʁ.se/	amorças /a.mɔʁ.sa/	amorça /a.mɔʁ.sa/	amorçâmes /a.mɔʁ.sam/	amorçâtes /a.mɔʁ.sat/	amorcèrent /a.mɔʁ.sɛʁ/
	future	amorcerai /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁe/	amorceras /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁa/	amorcera /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁa/	amorcerons /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/	amorcerez /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁe/	amorceront /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	amorcerais /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	amorcerais /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	amorcerait /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	amorcerions /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	amorceriez /a.mɔʁ.sə.ʁje/	amorceraient /a.mɔʁ.sə.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	amorce /a.mɔʁs/	amorces /a.mɔʁs/	amorce /a.mɔʁs/	amorcions /a.mɔʁ.sjɔ̃/	amorciez /a.mɔʁ.sje/	amorcent /a.mɔʁs/
	imperfect2	amorçasse /a.mɔʁ.sas/	amorçasses /a.mɔʁ.sas/	amorçât /a.mɔʁ.sa/	amorçassions /a.mɔʁ.sa.sjɔ̃/	amorçassiez /a.mɔʁ.sa.sje/	amorçassent /a.mɔʁ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	amorce /a.mɔʁs/	—	amorçons /a.mɔʁ.sɔ̃/	amorcez /a.mɔʁ.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).

Related terms

• amorçage
• amorce
• amorceur
• désamorcer

Further reading

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