encombrer
French
Etymology
From Middle French encombrer, from Old French encombrer (“to hinder, burden, encumber”), from Medieval Latin incombrō (“to hinder, inconvenience, burden”), from Medieval Latin combrus (“barricade of felled trees”), possibly from Gaulish *komberū, from Proto-Celtic *kombereti (“to bring together”) (compare Old Irish conbeir (“brings together, bears”)), from *kom- + *bereti (“to bear”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti (“to be carrying”).[1][2] Alternatively from Latin cumulus (“heap, pile”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell”).[3]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁe/
Audio (file)
Verb
encombrer
- (transitive) to block off, to clutter, to clutter up, to congest
- (transitive) to encumber, to burden
- (transitive) to jam (e.g. a switchboard)
Conjugation
Conjugation of encombrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | encombrer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | encombrant /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | encombré /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | encombre /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ | encombres /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ | encombre /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ | encombrons /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/ | encombrez /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁe/ | encombrent /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ |
| imperfect | encombrais /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | encombrais /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | encombrait /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | encombrions /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁi.jɔ̃/ | encombriez /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁi.je/ | encombraient /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | encombrai /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁe/ | encombras /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁa/ | encombra /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁa/ | encombrâmes /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁam/ | encombrâtes /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁat/ | encombrèrent /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɛʁ/ | |
| future | encombrerai /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁe/ | encombreras /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁa/ | encombrera /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁa/ | encombrerons /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | encombrerez /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁe/ | encombreront /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | encombrerais /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/ | encombrerais /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/ | encombrerait /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/ | encombrerions /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ | encombreriez /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.ʁje/ | encombreraient /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁə.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 | encombre /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ | encombres /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ | encombre /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ | encombrions /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁi.jɔ̃/ | encombriez /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁi.je/ | encombrent /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ |
| imperfect2 | encombrasse /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁas/ | encombrasses /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁas/ | encombrât /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁa/ | encombrassions /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁa.sjɔ̃/ | encombrassiez /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁa.sje/ | encombrassent /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | encombre /ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ/ | — | encombrons /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/ | encombrez /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁe/ | — | |
| 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
- encombrant
References
- Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “combrus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 204
- “encombrer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- Bratchet, A. (1873), “encombre”, in , Kitchin, G. W., transl., Etymological dictionary of the French language (Clarendon Press Series), 1st edition, London: Oxford/MacMillan and Co., page 131
Old French
Alternative forms
- ancumbrer
- encumbrer
Etymology
From combre, more at encombrer.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /enkumˈbreːr/
Verb
encombrer
- to bother; to irritate; to annoy
- to burden
Conjugation
This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. In the present tense an extra supporting e is needed in the first-person singular indicative and throughout the singular subjunctive, and the third-person singular subjunctive ending -t is lost. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
Conjugation of encombrer (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | encombrer | avoir encombré | |||||
| gerund | en encombrant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| present participle | encombrant | ||||||
| past participle | encombré | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses | present | encombre | encombres | encombre | encombrons | encombrez | encombrent |
| imperfect | encombroie, encombreie, encombroe, encombreve | encombroies, encombreies, encombroes, encombreves | encombroit, encombreit, encombrot, encombreve | encombriiens, encombriens | encombriiez, encombriez | encombroient, encombreient, encombroent, encombrevent | |
| preterite | encombrai | encombras | encombra | encombrames | encombrastes | encombrerent | |
| future | encombrerai | encombreras | encombrera | encombrerons | encombreroiz, encombrereiz, encombrerez | encombreront | |
| conditional | encombreroie, encombrereie | encombreroies, encombrereies | encombreroit, encombrereit | encombreriiens, encombreriens | encombreriiez, encombreriez | encombreroient, encombrereient | |
| compound tenses | present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses | present | encombre | encombres | encombre | encombrons | encombrez | encombrent |
| imperfect | encombrasse | encombrasses | encombrast | encombrissons, encombrissiens | encombrissoiz, encombrissez, encombrissiez | encombrassent | |
| compound tenses | past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | encombre | — | encombrons | encombrez | — | ||
Descendants
- Old French: encombrer
- French: encombrer
- → Middle English: encombren
- English: encumber
- → Middle English: combren
- English: cumber
References
- Etymology and history of “encombrer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (encombrer)