contrebalancer

French

Etymology

contre- +‎ balancer

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.se/

Verb

contrebalancer

1. to counterbalance

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 contrebalancer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	contrebalancer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	contrebalançant /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		contrebalancé /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	contrebalance /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/	contrebalances /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/	contrebalance /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/	contrebalançons /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɔ̃/	contrebalancez /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.se/	contrebalancent /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/
	imperfect	contrebalançais /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɛ/	contrebalançais /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɛ/	contrebalançait /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɛ/	contrebalancions /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	contrebalanciez /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sje/	contrebalançaient /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	contrebalançai /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.se/	contrebalanças /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sa/	contrebalança /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sa/	contrebalançâmes /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sam/	contrebalançâtes /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sat/	contrebalancèrent /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	contrebalancerai /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁe/	contrebalanceras /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁa/	contrebalancera /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁa/	contrebalancerons /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	contrebalancerez /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁe/	contrebalanceront /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	contrebalancerais /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁɛ/	contrebalancerais /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁɛ/	contrebalancerait /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sʁɛ/	contrebalancerions /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	contrebalanceriez /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	contrebalanceraient /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.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	contrebalance /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/	contrebalances /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/	contrebalance /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/	contrebalancions /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	contrebalanciez /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sje/	contrebalancent /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	contrebalançasse /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sas/	contrebalançasses /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sas/	contrebalançât /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sa/	contrebalançassions /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	contrebalançassiez /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sa.sje/	contrebalançassent /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	contrebalance /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃s/	—	contrebalançons /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.sɔ̃/	contrebalancez /kɔ̃.tʁə.ba.lɑ̃.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).

Further reading

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