adoucir

French

Etymology

From Old French adolcir, from Latin ad (“to, toward”) + dulcis (“sweet”) + Old French verbal suffix -ir

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /a.du.siʁ/
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -iʁ

Verb

adoucir

  1. to make mild
  2. to sweeten
    La sauce est trop salée ; je vais l'adoucir un peu.
    The sauce is too salty; I'll sweeten it a bit.
  3. to soften
    Il existe plusieurs méthodes pour adoucir l'eau.
    Several methods exist for softening water.
  4. (figuratively, by extension) to appease
  5. (reflexive, s'adoucir) to become milder

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 adoucir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
present participle adoucissant
/a.du.si.sɑ̃/
past participle adouci
/a.du.si/
infinitive
simple adoucir
compound avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple adoucissant
/a.du.si.sɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present adoucis
/a.du.si/		 adoucis
/a.du.si/		 adoucit
/a.du.si/		 adoucissons
/a.du.si.sɔ̃/		 adoucissez
/a.du.si.se/		 adoucissent
/a.du.sis/
imperfect adoucissais
/a.du.si.sɛ/		 adoucissais
/a.du.si.sɛ/		 adoucissait
/a.du.si.sɛ/		 adoucissions
/a.du.si.sjɔ̃/		 adoucissiez
/a.du.si.sje/		 adoucissaient
/a.du.si.sɛ/
past historic2 adoucis
/a.du.si/		 adoucis
/a.du.si/		 adoucit
/a.du.si/		 adoucîmes
/a.du.sim/		 adoucîtes
/a.du.sit/		 adoucirent
/a.du.siʁ/
future adoucirai
/a.du.si.ʁe/		 adouciras
/a.du.si.ʁa/		 adoucira
/a.du.si.ʁa/		 adoucirons
/a.du.si.ʁɔ̃/		 adoucirez
/a.du.si.ʁe/		 adouciront
/a.du.si.ʁɔ̃/
conditional adoucirais
/a.du.si.ʁɛ/		 adoucirais
/a.du.si.ʁɛ/		 adoucirait
/a.du.si.ʁɛ/		 adoucirions
/a.du.si.ʁjɔ̃/		 adouciriez
/a.du.si.ʁje/		 adouciraient
/a.du.si.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 adoucisse
/a.du.sis/		 adoucisses
/a.du.sis/		 adoucisse
/a.du.sis/		 adoucissions
/a.du.si.sjɔ̃/		 adoucissiez
/a.du.si.sje/		 adoucissent
/a.du.sis/
imperfect2 adoucisse
/a.du.sis/		 adoucisses
/a.du.sis/		 adoucît
/a.du.si/		 adoucissions
/a.du.si.sjɔ̃/		 adoucissiez
/a.du.si.sje/		 adoucissent
/a.du.sis/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — adoucis
/a.du.si/		 — adoucissons
/a.du.si.sɔ̃/		 adoucissez
/a.du.si.se/		 —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

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