abêtir
French
Etymology
a- + bête + -ir
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.bɛ.tiʁ/, /a.be.tiʁ/
Audio (file)
Verb
abêtir
- (transitive, intransitive, ergative) to dumb down, render dumb, dim-witted; to deaden the mind of
- (reflexive, ergative) to become dim-witted and foolish
Usage notes
- Abrutir is a close synonym, but unlike that term abêtir implies a slower, progressive process, which abrutir does not necessarily do.
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 abêtir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | abêtir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | abêtissant /a.bɛ.ti.sɑ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | abêti /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | abêtit /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | abêtissons /a.bɛ.ti.sɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sɔ̃/ | abêtissez /a.bɛ.ti.se/ or /a.be.ti.se/ | abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
| imperfect | abêtissais /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ | abêtissais /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ | abêtissait /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ | abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sjɔ̃/ | abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ or /a.be.ti.sje/ | abêtissaient /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ or /a.be.ti.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | abêtit /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | abêtîmes /a.bɛ.tim/ or /a.be.tim/ | abêtîtes /a.bɛ.tit/ or /a.be.tit/ | abêtirent /a.bɛ.tiʁ/ or /a.be.tiʁ/ | |
| future | abêtirai /a.bɛ.ti.ʁe/ or /a.be.ti.ʁe/ | abêtiras /a.bɛ.ti.ʁa/ or /a.be.ti.ʁa/ | abêtira /a.bɛ.ti.ʁa/ or /a.be.ti.ʁa/ | abêtirons /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɔ̃/ | abêtirez /a.bɛ.ti.ʁe/ or /a.be.ti.ʁe/ | abêtiront /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | abêtirais /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɛ/ | abêtirais /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɛ/ | abêtirait /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.ʁɛ/ | abêtirions /a.bɛ.ti.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.ʁjɔ̃/ | abêtiriez /a.bɛ.ti.ʁje/ or /a.be.ti.ʁje/ | abêtiraient /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ or /a.be.ti.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 | abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ | abêtisses /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ | abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ | abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sjɔ̃/ | abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ or /a.be.ti.sje/ | abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ |
| imperfect2 | abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ | abêtisses /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ | abêtît /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sjɔ̃/ | abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ or /a.be.ti.sje/ | abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ or /a.be.tis/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ or /a.be.ti/ | — | abêtissons /a.bɛ.ti.sɔ̃/ or /a.be.ti.sɔ̃/ | abêtissez /a.bɛ.ti.se/ or /a.be.ti.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). | |||||||
Related terms
- abêtissant
- abêtissement
Further reading
- “abêtir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- abrite, abrité