combler
French
Etymology
From Old French, from Latin cumulāre, present active infinitive of cumulō. Doublet of the borrowing cumuler.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ̃.ble/
Audio (file)
Verb
combler
- to fulfil, satisfy
- 2016, Gaël Faye, Petit Pays [Small Country]:
- Un rêve, ils en avaient eu un chacun, égoïste, et ils n'étaient pas prêts à combler les attentes de l'autre.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
-
- (literally and figurative) to fill (add contents to, so it is full)
- 1640, Pierre Corneille, “Act 2, Scene 1”, in Horace:
- Ce choix pouvait combler trois familles de gloire / Consacrer hautement leurs noms à la mémoire
- This choice could fill three families with glory / Consecrate in high memory their names
-
- to fill (to install someone)
- to counter
- (sport) to deliver
Conjugation
Conjugation of combler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | combler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | comblant /kɔ̃.blɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | comblé /kɔ̃.ble/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | comble /kɔ̃bl/ | combles /kɔ̃bl/ | comble /kɔ̃bl/ | comblons /kɔ̃.blɔ̃/ | comblez /kɔ̃.ble/ | comblent /kɔ̃bl/ |
| imperfect | comblais /kɔ̃.blɛ/ | comblais /kɔ̃.blɛ/ | comblait /kɔ̃.blɛ/ | comblions /kɔ̃.bli.jɔ̃/ | combliez /kɔ̃.bli.je/ | comblaient /kɔ̃.blɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | comblai /kɔ̃.ble/ | comblas /kɔ̃.bla/ | combla /kɔ̃.bla/ | comblâmes /kɔ̃.blam/ | comblâtes /kɔ̃.blat/ | comblèrent /kɔ̃.blɛʁ/ | |
| future | comblerai /kɔ̃.blə.ʁe/ | combleras /kɔ̃.blə.ʁa/ | comblera /kɔ̃.blə.ʁa/ | comblerons /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɔ̃/ | comblerez /kɔ̃.blə.ʁe/ | combleront /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | comblerais /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɛ/ | comblerais /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɛ/ | comblerait /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɛ/ | comblerions /kɔ̃.blə.ʁjɔ̃/ | combleriez /kɔ̃.blə.ʁje/ | combleraient /kɔ̃.blə.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 | comble /kɔ̃bl/ | combles /kɔ̃bl/ | comble /kɔ̃bl/ | comblions /kɔ̃.bli.jɔ̃/ | combliez /kɔ̃.bli.je/ | comblent /kɔ̃bl/ |
| imperfect2 | comblasse /kɔ̃.blas/ | comblasses /kɔ̃.blas/ | comblât /kɔ̃.bla/ | comblassions /kɔ̃.bla.sjɔ̃/ | comblassiez /kɔ̃.bla.sje/ | comblassent /kɔ̃.blas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | comble /kɔ̃bl/ | — | comblons /kɔ̃.blɔ̃/ | comblez /kɔ̃.ble/ | — | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Synonyms
- remplir
Related terms
- comble
- combles
- cumuler
- accumuler
Further reading
- “combler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.