battre
See also: bättre
French
Etymology
From Middle French battre, from Old French batre, from Late Latin battere, present active infinitive of battō, alternative form of Latin battuō (“beat, pound; fight”), of Gaulish origin.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /batʁ/
audio (file)
Verb
battre
- to beat; to defeat
- to beat up
- (takes a reflexive pronoun) to fight
- 2018, Zaz, Saint-Valentin
- J'irai dans un bar ce soir. […] Je me battrai pour une place au comptoir.
- I'm going to a bar tonight. […] I will fight for a seat at the counter.
- 2018, Zaz, Saint-Valentin
- (cooking) to whisk or whip (eggs)
- (agriculture) to thresh
- (card games) to shuffle
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like vendre, perdre, etc. (sometimes called the regular -re verbs), except that instead of *batt and *batts, it has the forms [[{stem}bat#French|{stem}bat]] and [[{stem}bats#French|{stem}bats]]. This is strictly a spelling change; pronunciation-wise, the verb is conjugated exactly like vendre.
Conjugation of battre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | battre | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | battant /ba.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | battu /ba.ty/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | bats /ba/ | bats /ba/ | bat /ba/ | battons /ba.tɔ̃/ | battez /ba.te/ | battent /bat/ |
| imperfect | battais /ba.tɛ/ | battais /ba.tɛ/ | battait /ba.tɛ/ | battions /ba.tjɔ̃/ | battiez /ba.tje/ | battaient /ba.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | battis /ba.ti/ | battis /ba.ti/ | battit /ba.ti/ | battîmes /ba.tim/ | battîtes /ba.tit/ | battirent /ba.tiʁ/ | |
| future | battrai /ba.tʁe/ | battras /ba.tʁa/ | battra /ba.tʁa/ | battrons /ba.tʁɔ̃/ | battrez /ba.tʁe/ | battront /ba.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | battrais /ba.tʁɛ/ | battrais /ba.tʁɛ/ | battrait /ba.tʁɛ/ | battrions /ba.tʁi.jɔ̃/ | battriez /ba.tʁi.je/ | battraient /ba.tʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | batte /bat/ | battes /bat/ | batte /bat/ | battions /ba.tjɔ̃/ | battiez /ba.tje/ | battent /bat/ |
| imperfect2 | battisse /ba.tis/ | battisses /ba.tis/ | battît /ba.ti/ | battissions /ba.ti.sjɔ̃/ | battissiez /ba.ti.sje/ | battissent /ba.tis/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | bats /ba/ | — | battons /ba.tɔ̃/ | battez /ba.te/ | — | |
| 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
- battage
- battement
- batterie
- battoir
- battre à plate couture
- battre à plate couture
- battre à plates coutures
- battre comme plâtre
- battre de l'aile
- battre en brèche
- battre en retraite
- battre froid
- battre la campagne
- battre la chamade
- battre la mesure
- battre le fer tant qu'il est chaud
- battre monnaie
- battre sa coulpe
- battre son plein
- contrebattre
- rabattre
- rien à battre
- se battre comme des chiffonniers
- se battre les couilles de
- s'en battre les steaks
- sortir des sentiers battus
- terre battue
Further reading
- “battre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French batre.
Verb
battre
- (reflexive, se battre) to fight; to engage in combat
Related terms
- combattre
Descendants
- French: battre
Norman
Etymology
From Old French batre, from Late Latin battō, alternative form of Latin battuō (“I beat, pound; I fight”).
Verb
battre (gerund batt'tie)
- (Jersey) to beat
- (Jersey, reflexive, s'battre) to fight
Derived terms
- battre lé beurre (“to make butter”)