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

  (file)

Verb

froncer

1. to scowl
2. (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		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
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: 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

• froncer les sourcils

Further reading

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