sombrer
English
Adjective
sombrer
- comparative form of sombre: more sombre
French
Etymology
From a Middle French soussombrer, from alteration of soussoubrer, with influence from sombre, and the first part perhaps being interpreted as a prefix. The word soussoubrer was probably a loan through a maritime route from Portuguese soçobrar, itself likely from Spanish zozobrar, from Old Spanish sozobrar, and this from Old Catalan sotsobrar, from sotsobre, from sots + sobre, or from Vulgar Latin *subsuperāre, from Latin sub + super.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sɔ̃.bʁe/
Audio (file)
Verb
sombrer
- (intransitive, literary, of a vessel) to sink
- (intransitive, literary, figuratively) to sink (+dans; into)
- sombrer dans l'alcoolisme
- sink into [the pit of] alcoholism
- (figuratively, intransitive) to whittle away (disappear)
Conjugation
Conjugation of sombrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | sombrer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | sombrant /sɔ̃.bʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | sombré /sɔ̃.bʁe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/ | sombres /sɔ̃bʁ/ | sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/ | sombrons /sɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/ | sombrez /sɔ̃.bʁe/ | sombrent /sɔ̃bʁ/ |
| imperfect | sombrais /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | sombrais /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | sombrait /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | sombrions /sɔ̃.bʁi.jɔ̃/ | sombriez /sɔ̃.bʁi.je/ | sombraient /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | sombrai /sɔ̃.bʁe/ | sombras /sɔ̃.bʁa/ | sombra /sɔ̃.bʁa/ | sombrâmes /sɔ̃.bʁam/ | sombrâtes /sɔ̃.bʁat/ | sombrèrent /sɔ̃.bʁɛʁ/ | |
| future | sombrerai /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁe/ | sombreras /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁa/ | sombrera /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁa/ | sombrerons /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | sombrerez /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁe/ | sombreront /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | sombrerais /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/ | sombrerais /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/ | sombrerait /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/ | sombrerions /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ | sombreriez /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁje/ | sombreraient /sɔ̃.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 | sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/ | sombres /sɔ̃bʁ/ | sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/ | sombrions /sɔ̃.bʁi.jɔ̃/ | sombriez /sɔ̃.bʁi.je/ | sombrent /sɔ̃bʁ/ |
| imperfect2 | sombrasse /sɔ̃.bʁas/ | sombrasses /sɔ̃.bʁas/ | sombrât /sɔ̃.bʁa/ | sombrassions /sɔ̃.bʁa.sjɔ̃/ | sombrassiez /sɔ̃.bʁa.sje/ | sombrassent /sɔ̃.bʁas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/ | — | sombrons /sɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/ | sombrez /sɔ̃.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). | |||||||
Synonyms
(of a vessel, to sink):
- couler
(figuratively, to sink):
- s'écouler
Further reading
- “sombrer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.