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Definition 2025
abêtir
abêtir
French
Verb
abêtir
- (transitive, intransitive) To dumb down, render dumb, dim-witted; to deaden the mind of.
- (reflexive) 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 does.
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)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | abêtir | avoir abêti | |||||
| gerund | en abêtissant | en ayant abêti | |||||
| present participle | abêtissant /a.bɛ.ti.sɑ̃/ |
||||||
| past participle | abêti /a.bɛ.ti/ |
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| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ |
abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ |
abêtit /a.bɛ.ti/ |
abêtissons /a.bɛ.ti.sɔ̃/ |
abêtissez /a.bɛ.ti.se/ |
abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ |
| imperfect | abêtissais /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ |
abêtissais /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ |
abêtissait /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ |
abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ |
abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ |
abêtissaient /a.bɛ.ti.sɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ |
abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ |
abêtit /a.bɛ.ti/ |
abêtîmes /a.bɛ.tim/ |
abêtîtes /a.bɛ.tit/ |
abêtirent /a.bɛ.tiʁ/ |
|
| future | abêtirai /a.bɛ.ti.ʁe/ |
abêtiras /a.bɛ.ti.ʁa/ |
abêtira /a.bɛ.ti.ʁa/ |
abêtirons /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɔ̃/ |
abêtirez /a.bɛ.ti.ʁe/ |
abêtiront /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | abêtirais /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ |
abêtirais /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ |
abêtirait /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ |
abêtirions /a.bɛ.ti.ʁjɔ̃/ |
abêtiriez /a.bɛ.ti.ʁje/ |
abêtiraient /a.bɛ.ti.ʁɛ/ |
|
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ |
abêtisses /a.bɛ.tis/ |
abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ |
abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ |
abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ |
abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ |
| imperfect1 |
abêtisse /a.bɛ.tis/ |
abêtisses /a.bɛ.tis/ |
abêtît /a.bɛ.ti/ |
abêtissions /a.bɛ.ti.sjɔ̃/ |
abêtissiez /a.bɛ.ti.sje/ |
abêtissent /a.bɛ.tis/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | abêtis /a.bɛ.ti/ |
— | abêtissons /a.bɛ.ti.sɔ̃/ |
abêtissez /a.bɛ.ti.se/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||