combler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, from Latin cumulāre. Doublet of the borrowing cumuler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ble/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

combler

1. to fulfil, satisfy
   • 2016, Gaël Faye, Petit Pays [Small Country]:

     Un rêve, ils en avaient eu un chacun, égoïste, et ils n’étaient pas prêts à combler les attentes de l’autre.

     Each one of them had a dream, a self-centred one, and they weren't willing to satisfy each other's expectations.

2. (literal and figurative) to fill (add contents to, so it is full)
   • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act 2, scene 1:

     Ce choix pouvait combler trois familles de gloire / Consacrer hautement leurs noms à la mémoire

     This choice could fill three families with glory / Consecrate in high memory their names

3. to fill (to install someone)
4. to counter
5. (sports) to deliver

Conjugation

Conjugation of combler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	combler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	comblant /kɔ̃.blɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		comblé /kɔ̃.ble/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	comble /kɔ̃bl/	combles /kɔ̃bl/	comble /kɔ̃bl/	comblons /kɔ̃.blɔ̃/	comblez /kɔ̃.ble/	comblent /kɔ̃bl/
	imperfect	comblais /kɔ̃.blɛ/	comblais /kɔ̃.blɛ/	comblait /kɔ̃.blɛ/	comblions /kɔ̃.bli.jɔ̃/	combliez /kɔ̃.bli.je/	comblaient /kɔ̃.blɛ/
	past historic2	comblai /kɔ̃.ble/	comblas /kɔ̃.bla/	combla /kɔ̃.bla/	comblâmes /kɔ̃.blam/	comblâtes /kɔ̃.blat/	comblèrent /kɔ̃.blɛʁ/
	future	comblerai /kɔ̃.blə.ʁe/	combleras /kɔ̃.blə.ʁa/	comblera /kɔ̃.blə.ʁa/	comblerons /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɔ̃/	comblerez /kɔ̃.blə.ʁe/	combleront /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	comblerais /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɛ/	comblerais /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɛ/	comblerait /kɔ̃.blə.ʁɛ/	comblerions /kɔ̃.blə.ʁjɔ̃/	combleriez /kɔ̃.blə.ʁje/	combleraient /kɔ̃.blə.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	comble /kɔ̃bl/	combles /kɔ̃bl/	comble /kɔ̃bl/	comblions /kɔ̃.bli.jɔ̃/	combliez /kɔ̃.bli.je/	comblent /kɔ̃bl/
	imperfect2	comblasse /kɔ̃.blas/	comblasses /kɔ̃.blas/	comblât /kɔ̃.bla/	comblassions /kɔ̃.bla.sjɔ̃/	comblassiez /kɔ̃.bla.sje/	comblassent /kɔ̃.blas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	comble /kɔ̃bl/	—	comblons /kɔ̃.blɔ̃/	comblez /kɔ̃.ble/	—
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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Synonyms

• remplir

Related terms

• comble
• combles
• cumuler
• accumuler

Further reading

• “combler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.