adoucir
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French adolcir, from dolz, douz (“sweet”), from Latin dulcis (“sweet”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.du.siʁ/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -iʁ
Verb
adoucir
- (transitive) (of foods, flavors, scents, etc.) to sweeten
- La sauce est trop salée ; je vais l'adoucir un peu. ― The sauce is too salty; I'll sweeten it a bit.
- (transitive; figurative) (of any unpleasant thing) to make (more) agreeable, pleasant, mild, delicate, etc.
- adoucir la douleur ― to soften the pain
- (transitive) (of something physically rough or coarse) to soften, to smooth
- (transitive) (of water) to soften
- Il existe plusieurs méthodes pour adoucir l'eau. ― Several methods exist for softening water.
- (transitive; figurative) to soften, to make more delicate; (of colors, as in visual arts like painting) to lighten, to brighten
- (transitive; figuratively) to appease; to calm; to make less angry or aggressive
- (takes a reflexive pronoun) to become sweeter; to become milder
- (takes a reflexive pronoun; figurative) to become more pleasant or agreeable
Conjugation
This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.
Conjugation of adoucir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | adoucir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | adoucissant /a.du.si.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | adouci /a.du.si/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | adoucis /a.du.si/ | adoucis /a.du.si/ | adoucit /a.du.si/ | adoucissons /a.du.si.sɔ̃/ | adoucissez /a.du.si.se/ | adoucissent /a.du.sis/ |
| imperfect | adoucissais /a.du.si.sɛ/ | adoucissais /a.du.si.sɛ/ | adoucissait /a.du.si.sɛ/ | adoucissions /a.du.si.sjɔ̃/ | adoucissiez /a.du.si.sje/ | adoucissaient /a.du.si.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | adoucis /a.du.si/ | adoucis /a.du.si/ | adoucit /a.du.si/ | adoucîmes /a.du.sim/ | adoucîtes /a.du.sit/ | adoucirent /a.du.siʁ/ | |
| future | adoucirai /a.du.si.ʁe/ | adouciras /a.du.si.ʁa/ | adoucira /a.du.si.ʁa/ | adoucirons /a.du.si.ʁɔ̃/ | adoucirez /a.du.si.ʁe/ | adouciront /a.du.si.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | adoucirais /a.du.si.ʁɛ/ | adoucirais /a.du.si.ʁɛ/ | adoucirait /a.du.si.ʁɛ/ | adoucirions /a.du.si.ʁjɔ̃/ | adouciriez /a.du.si.ʁje/ | adouciraient /a.du.si.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 | adoucisse /a.du.sis/ | adoucisses /a.du.sis/ | adoucisse /a.du.sis/ | adoucissions /a.du.si.sjɔ̃/ | adoucissiez /a.du.si.sje/ | adoucissent /a.du.sis/ |
| imperfect2 | adoucisse /a.du.sis/ | adoucisses /a.du.sis/ | adoucît /a.du.si/ | adoucissions /a.du.si.sjɔ̃/ | adoucissiez /a.du.si.sje/ | adoucissent /a.du.sis/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | adoucis /a.du.si/ | — | adoucissons /a.du.si.sɔ̃/ | adoucissez /a.du.si.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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
- adoucissage
- adoucissement
- adoucisseur
- radoucir
Further reading
- “adoucir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- radouci