grincer

French

Etymology

From earlier grigner, originally from Old High German grînan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁɛ̃.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

grincer

1. to squeak (emit sound)
2. to creak, rasp, squeal
3. (of teeth) to gnash
4. (of birds) to squawk
5. (of a person) to grumble
   • 2024 July 8, François Tonneau, quoting Marine Le Pen, “L'Assemblée nationale à fronts renversés”, in La Provence, page 2:

     “Macron assume de paralyser les institutions”, grince Jordan Bardella.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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 grincer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	grincer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	grinçant /ɡʁɛ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		grincé /ɡʁɛ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	grince /ɡʁɛ̃s/	grinces /ɡʁɛ̃s/	grince /ɡʁɛ̃s/	grinçons /ɡʁɛ̃.sɔ̃/	grincez /ɡʁɛ̃.se/	grincent /ɡʁɛ̃s/
	imperfect	grinçais /ɡʁɛ̃.sɛ/	grinçais /ɡʁɛ̃.sɛ/	grinçait /ɡʁɛ̃.sɛ/	grincions /ɡʁɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	grinciez /ɡʁɛ̃.sje/	grinçaient /ɡʁɛ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	grinçai /ɡʁɛ̃.se/	grinças /ɡʁɛ̃.sa/	grinça /ɡʁɛ̃.sa/	grinçâmes /ɡʁɛ̃.sam/	grinçâtes /ɡʁɛ̃.sat/	grincèrent /ɡʁɛ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	grincerai /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁe/	grinceras /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁa/	grincera /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁa/	grincerons /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁɔ̃/	grincerez /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁe/	grinceront /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	grincerais /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁɛ/	grincerais /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁɛ/	grincerait /ɡʁɛ̃.sʁɛ/	grincerions /ɡʁɛ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	grinceriez /ɡʁɛ̃.sə.ʁje/	grinceraient /ɡʁɛ̃.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	grince /ɡʁɛ̃s/	grinces /ɡʁɛ̃s/	grince /ɡʁɛ̃s/	grincions /ɡʁɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	grinciez /ɡʁɛ̃.sje/	grincent /ɡʁɛ̃s/
	imperfect2	grinçasse /ɡʁɛ̃.sas/	grinçasses /ɡʁɛ̃.sas/	grinçât /ɡʁɛ̃.sa/	grinçassions /ɡʁɛ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	grinçassiez /ɡʁɛ̃.sa.sje/	grinçassent /ɡʁɛ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	grince /ɡʁɛ̃s/	—	grinçons /ɡʁɛ̃.sɔ̃/	grincez /ɡʁɛ̃.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

• grinçant
• grincement
• grinceur
• grinçonner

Further reading

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