effondrer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French esfondrer, from Vulgar Latin *exfunderare, from fundus (“fond”). Compare Catalan esfondrar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fɔ̃.dʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

effondrer

1. (transitive or reflexive) to collapse [from the 12th c.]
   • 1936, Henri Mériot, Les Belles Légendes de Saintonge, La Découvrance éditions, page 115:

     Trois jours durant, trois nuits d’horreur, la mer franchit les digues, effondra la falaise, balayant tout dans son irrésistible furie, éventrant les champs saccagés, renversant les chaumières et laissant sur le rivage, lorsqu’elle s’apaisa, un monstre comme seul en peut produire l’Enfer.

     Three days on end, three days of horror, the sea overwhelmed the dykes, tore down the cliff, sweeping everything away in its irresistible fury, gutting the ravaged fields, overturning the cottages, and leaving behind on the shore—once it had calmed itself—a monster like one only Hell could produce.

   • 2019, Angéla Morelli, Embrasse-moi sous la neige:

     Elle sursauta, voulut pivoter dans sa direction, et son coude heurta la fragile pyramide de gâteaux à la broche qui s’effondra dans un bruit sourd.

     She leaped, wanting to pivot in his direction, and her elbow heat the fragile pyramid of spit cakes which collapsed with a thud.

Conjugation

Conjugation of effondrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	effondrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	effondrant /e.fɔ̃.dʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		effondré /e.fɔ̃.dʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	effondre /e.fɔ̃dʁ/	effondres /e.fɔ̃dʁ/	effondre /e.fɔ̃dʁ/	effondrons /e.fɔ̃.dʁɔ̃/	effondrez /e.fɔ̃.dʁe/	effondrent /e.fɔ̃dʁ/
	imperfect	effondrais /e.fɔ̃.dʁɛ/	effondrais /e.fɔ̃.dʁɛ/	effondrait /e.fɔ̃.dʁɛ/	effondrions /e.fɔ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	effondriez /e.fɔ̃.dʁi.je/	effondraient /e.fɔ̃.dʁɛ/
	past historic2	effondrai /e.fɔ̃.dʁe/	effondras /e.fɔ̃.dʁa/	effondra /e.fɔ̃.dʁa/	effondrâmes /e.fɔ̃.dʁam/	effondrâtes /e.fɔ̃.dʁat/	effondrèrent /e.fɔ̃.dʁɛʁ/
	future	effondrerai /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁe/	effondreras /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁa/	effondrera /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁa/	effondrerons /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁɔ̃/	effondrerez /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁe/	effondreront /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	effondrerais /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁɛ/	effondrerais /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁɛ/	effondrerait /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁɛ/	effondrerions /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	effondreriez /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.ʁje/	effondreraient /e.fɔ̃.dʁə.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	effondre /e.fɔ̃dʁ/	effondres /e.fɔ̃dʁ/	effondre /e.fɔ̃dʁ/	effondrions /e.fɔ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	effondriez /e.fɔ̃.dʁi.je/	effondrent /e.fɔ̃dʁ/
	imperfect2	effondrasse /e.fɔ̃.dʁas/	effondrasses /e.fɔ̃.dʁas/	effondrât /e.fɔ̃.dʁa/	effondrassions /e.fɔ̃.dʁa.sjɔ̃/	effondrassiez /e.fɔ̃.dʁa.sje/	effondrassent /e.fɔ̃.dʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	effondre /e.fɔ̃dʁ/	—	effondrons /e.fɔ̃.dʁɔ̃/	effondrez /e.fɔ̃.dʁe/	—
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

• effondrement

Further reading

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