blêmir
French
Etymology
From Middle French blêmir, from Old French blemir, blesmir, from Frankish *blesmijan, *blasmijan (“to grow pale; make pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“shining, white, fair, pale”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine, be white”). Cognate with Old High German blas (“white; having a blaze”) and English blaze.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /blɛ.miʁ/, /ble.miʁ/
Audio (file)
Verb
blêmir
- to whiten; to become pale; to blanch
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 blêmir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | blêmir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | blêmissant /blɛ.mi.sɑ̃/ or /ble.mi.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | blêmi /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | blêmis /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | blêmis /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | blêmit /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | blêmissons /blɛ.mi.sɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.sɔ̃/ | blêmissez /blɛ.mi.se/ or /ble.mi.se/ | blêmissent /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ |
| imperfect | blêmissais /blɛ.mi.sɛ/ or /ble.mi.sɛ/ | blêmissais /blɛ.mi.sɛ/ or /ble.mi.sɛ/ | blêmissait /blɛ.mi.sɛ/ or /ble.mi.sɛ/ | blêmissions /blɛ.mi.sjɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.sjɔ̃/ | blêmissiez /blɛ.mi.sje/ or /ble.mi.sje/ | blêmissaient /blɛ.mi.sɛ/ or /ble.mi.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | blêmis /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | blêmis /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | blêmit /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | blêmîmes /blɛ.mim/ or /ble.mim/ | blêmîtes /blɛ.mit/ or /ble.mit/ | blêmirent /blɛ.miʁ/ or /ble.miʁ/ | |
| future | blêmirai /blɛ.mi.ʁe/ or /ble.mi.ʁe/ | blêmiras /blɛ.mi.ʁa/ or /ble.mi.ʁa/ | blêmira /blɛ.mi.ʁa/ or /ble.mi.ʁa/ | blêmirons /blɛ.mi.ʁɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.ʁɔ̃/ | blêmirez /blɛ.mi.ʁe/ or /ble.mi.ʁe/ | blêmiront /blɛ.mi.ʁɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | blêmirais /blɛ.mi.ʁɛ/ or /ble.mi.ʁɛ/ | blêmirais /blɛ.mi.ʁɛ/ or /ble.mi.ʁɛ/ | blêmirait /blɛ.mi.ʁɛ/ or /ble.mi.ʁɛ/ | blêmirions /blɛ.mi.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.ʁjɔ̃/ | blêmiriez /blɛ.mi.ʁje/ or /ble.mi.ʁje/ | blêmiraient /blɛ.mi.ʁɛ/ or /ble.mi.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 | blêmisse /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ | blêmisses /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ | blêmisse /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ | blêmissions /blɛ.mi.sjɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.sjɔ̃/ | blêmissiez /blɛ.mi.sje/ or /ble.mi.sje/ | blêmissent /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ |
| imperfect2 | blêmisse /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ | blêmisses /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ | blêmît /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | blêmissions /blɛ.mi.sjɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.sjɔ̃/ | blêmissiez /blɛ.mi.sje/ or /ble.mi.sje/ | blêmissent /blɛ.mis/ or /ble.mis/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | blêmis /blɛ.mi/ or /ble.mi/ | — | blêmissons /blɛ.mi.sɔ̃/ or /ble.mi.sɔ̃/ | blêmissez /blɛ.mi.se/ or /ble.mi.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
- blême
- blémissement / blêmissement
Further reading
- “blêmir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.