nuancer

French

Etymology

nuance +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɥɑ̃.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

nuancer

1. to moderate, to qualify (e.g., an opinion)

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 nuancer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	nuancer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	nuançant /nɥɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		nuancé /nɥɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	nuance /nɥɑ̃s/	nuances /nɥɑ̃s/	nuance /nɥɑ̃s/	nuançons /nɥɑ̃.sɔ̃/	nuancez /nɥɑ̃.se/	nuancent /nɥɑ̃s/
	imperfect	nuançais /nɥɑ̃.sɛ/	nuançais /nɥɑ̃.sɛ/	nuançait /nɥɑ̃.sɛ/	nuancions /nɥɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	nuanciez /nɥɑ̃.sje/	nuançaient /nɥɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	nuançai /nɥɑ̃.se/	nuanças /nɥɑ̃.sa/	nuança /nɥɑ̃.sa/	nuançâmes /nɥɑ̃.sam/	nuançâtes /nɥɑ̃.sat/	nuancèrent /nɥɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	nuancerai /nɥɑ̃.sʁe/	nuanceras /nɥɑ̃.sʁa/	nuancera /nɥɑ̃.sʁa/	nuancerons /nɥɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	nuancerez /nɥɑ̃.sʁe/	nuanceront /nɥɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	nuancerais /nɥɑ̃.sʁɛ/	nuancerais /nɥɑ̃.sʁɛ/	nuancerait /nɥɑ̃.sʁɛ/	nuancerions /nɥɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	nuanceriez /nɥɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	nuanceraient /nɥɑ̃.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	nuance /nɥɑ̃s/	nuances /nɥɑ̃s/	nuance /nɥɑ̃s/	nuancions /nɥɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	nuanciez /nɥɑ̃.sje/	nuancent /nɥɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	nuançasse /nɥɑ̃.sas/	nuançasses /nɥɑ̃.sas/	nuançât /nɥɑ̃.sa/	nuançassions /nɥɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	nuançassiez /nɥɑ̃.sa.sje/	nuançassent /nɥɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	nuance /nɥɑ̃s/	—	nuançons /nɥɑ̃.sɔ̃/	nuancez /nɥɑ̃.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).

Descendants

• → German: nuancieren

Further reading

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