froncer
French
Etymology
From fronce "frown, scowl" from Middle French fronce, from Old French fronces, fronche "frown, wrinkles, small creases in cloth", from Frankish *hrunkja "wrinkle" from Proto-Germanic *hrunkijō, *hrunkitō (“fold, wrinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to turn, bend”).
Akin to Old High German runza "fold, wrinkle, crease" (German Runzel "wrinkle"), Middle Dutch ronse "frown", Old Norse hrukka "wrinkle, crease" (Icelandic hrukka "wrinkle, crease, ruck"). More at ruck2.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fʁɔ̃.se/
Audio (France (Toulouse)): (file) Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (France (Somain)): (file)
Verb
froncer
- to scowl
- 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […][1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères:
- Quelque chose de plus fort qu'elle la poussait vers lui, si bien qu'un jour, la voyant survenir à l'improviste, il fronça le visage comme quelqu'un de contrarié.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (transitive) to gather (fabric)
Conjugation
This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.
Conjugation of froncer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | froncer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | fronçant /fʁɔ̃.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | froncé /fʁɔ̃.se/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | fronce /fʁɔ̃s/ |
fronces /fʁɔ̃s/ |
fronce /fʁɔ̃s/ |
fronçons /fʁɔ̃.sɔ̃/ |
froncez /fʁɔ̃.se/ |
froncent /fʁɔ̃s/ |
| imperfect | fronçais /fʁɔ̃.sɛ/ |
fronçais /fʁɔ̃.sɛ/ |
fronçait /fʁɔ̃.sɛ/ |
froncions /fʁɔ̃.sjɔ̃/ |
fronciez /fʁɔ̃.sje/ |
fronçaient /fʁɔ̃.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | fronçai /fʁɔ̃.se/ |
fronças /fʁɔ̃.sa/ |
fronça /fʁɔ̃.sa/ |
fronçâmes /fʁɔ̃.sam/ |
fronçâtes /fʁɔ̃.sat/ |
froncèrent /fʁɔ̃.sɛʁ/ | |
| future | froncerai /fʁɔ̃.sʁe/ |
fronceras /fʁɔ̃.sʁa/ |
froncera /fʁɔ̃.sʁa/ |
froncerons /fʁɔ̃.sʁɔ̃/ |
froncerez /fʁɔ̃.sʁe/ |
fronceront /fʁɔ̃.sʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | froncerais /fʁɔ̃.sʁɛ/ |
froncerais /fʁɔ̃.sʁɛ/ |
froncerait /fʁɔ̃.sʁɛ/ |
froncerions /fʁɔ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
fronceriez /fʁɔ̃.sə.ʁje/ |
fronceraient /fʁɔ̃.sʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | fronce /fʁɔ̃s/ |
fronces /fʁɔ̃s/ |
fronce /fʁɔ̃s/ |
froncions /fʁɔ̃.sjɔ̃/ |
fronciez /fʁɔ̃.sje/ |
froncent /fʁɔ̃s/ |
| imperfect2 | fronçasse /fʁɔ̃.sas/ |
fronçasses /fʁɔ̃.sas/ |
fronçât /fʁɔ̃.sa/ |
fronçassions /fʁɔ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/ |
fronçassiez /fʁɔ̃.sa.sje/ |
fronçassent /fʁɔ̃.sas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | fronce /fʁɔ̃s/ |
— | fronçons /fʁɔ̃.sɔ̃/ |
froncez /fʁɔ̃.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). | |||||||
Derived terms
Further reading
- “froncer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012