courber
French
Etymology
From Latin curvō.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kuʁ.be/
Audio (file)
Verb
courber
- (transitive) to bend (cause to become bent)
- (transitive) to bend (e.g. a rule)
- (intransitive) to bend (become bent)
- (reflexive) to bend
- (reflexive) to bow, to bow down, to bend down, to bend over
- (reflexive) to bend over backwards (be at another's will)
Conjugation
Conjugation of courber (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | courber | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | courbant /kuʁ.bɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | courbé /kuʁ.be/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) | present | courbe /kuʁb/ | courbes /kuʁb/ | courbe /kuʁb/ | courbons /kuʁ.bɔ̃/ | courbez /kuʁ.be/ | courbent /kuʁb/ |
imperfect | courbais /kuʁ.bɛ/ | courbais /kuʁ.bɛ/ | courbait /kuʁ.bɛ/ | courbions /kuʁ.bjɔ̃/ | courbiez /kuʁ.bje/ | courbaient /kuʁ.bɛ/ | |
past historic2 | courbai /kuʁ.be/ | courbas /kuʁ.ba/ | courba /kuʁ.ba/ | courbâmes /kuʁ.bam/ | courbâtes /kuʁ.bat/ | courbèrent /kuʁ.bɛʁ/ | |
future | courberai /kuʁ.bə.ʁe/ | courberas /kuʁ.bə.ʁa/ | courbera /kuʁ.bə.ʁa/ | courberons /kuʁ.bə.ʁɔ̃/ | courberez /kuʁ.bə.ʁe/ | courberont /kuʁ.bə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | courberais /kuʁ.bə.ʁɛ/ | courberais /kuʁ.bə.ʁɛ/ | courberait /kuʁ.bə.ʁɛ/ | courberions /kuʁ.bə.ʁjɔ̃/ | courberiez /kuʁ.bə.ʁje/ | courberaient /kuʁ.bə.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 | courbe /kuʁb/ | courbes /kuʁb/ | courbe /kuʁb/ | courbions /kuʁ.bjɔ̃/ | courbiez /kuʁ.bje/ | courbent /kuʁb/ |
imperfect2 | courbasse /kuʁ.bas/ | courbasses /kuʁ.bas/ | courbât /kuʁ.ba/ | courbassions /kuʁ.ba.sjɔ̃/ | courbassiez /kuʁ.ba.sje/ | courbassent /kuʁ.bas/ | |
(compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | courbe /kuʁb/ | — | courbons /kuʁ.bɔ̃/ | courbez /kuʁ.be/ | — | |
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). |
Derived terms
- courber l'échine
Related terms
- courbe
Further reading
- “courber”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.