bercer

French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French bercier (“to rock”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  *bertiāre, via (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Gaulish from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Celtic *berta- (“to shake”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛʁ.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

bercer

1. to cradle; to rock

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 bercer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	bercer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	berçant /bɛʁ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		bercé /bɛʁ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	berce /bɛʁs/	berces /bɛʁs/	berce /bɛʁs/	berçons /bɛʁ.sɔ̃/	bercez /bɛʁ.se/	bercent /bɛʁs/
	imperfect	berçais /bɛʁ.sɛ/	berçais /bɛʁ.sɛ/	berçait /bɛʁ.sɛ/	bercions /bɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	berciez /bɛʁ.sje/	berçaient /bɛʁ.sɛ/
	past historic2	berçai /bɛʁ.se/	berças /bɛʁ.sa/	berça /bɛʁ.sa/	berçâmes /bɛʁ.sam/	berçâtes /bɛʁ.sat/	bercèrent /bɛʁ.sɛʁ/
	future	bercerai /bɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	berceras /bɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	bercera /bɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	bercerons /bɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/	bercerez /bɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	berceront /bɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	bercerais /bɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	bercerais /bɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	bercerait /bɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	bercerions /bɛʁ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	berceriez /bɛʁ.sə.ʁje/	berceraient /bɛʁ.sə.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	berce /bɛʁs/	berces /bɛʁs/	berce /bɛʁs/	bercions /bɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	berciez /bɛʁ.sje/	bercent /bɛʁs/
	imperfect2	berçasse /bɛʁ.sas/	berçasses /bɛʁ.sas/	berçât /bɛʁ.sa/	berçassions /bɛʁ.sa.sjɔ̃/	berçassiez /bɛʁ.sa.sje/	berçassent /bɛʁ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	berce /bɛʁs/	—	berçons /bɛʁ.sɔ̃/	bercez /bɛʁ.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: 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).

Derived terms

• berceuse

Related terms

• berceau

Further reading

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

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Old French

Verb

bercer

1. Alternative form of berser