renforcer

French

Etymology

From r- (variant of re-) + Old French enforcier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

renforcer

1. (transitive) to reinforce, strengthen

   Synonym: fortifier

   Antonym: affaiblir

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 renforcer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	renforcer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	renforçant /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		renforcé /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	renforce /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/	renforces /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/	renforce /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/	renforçons /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɔ̃/	renforcez /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se/	renforcent /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/
	imperfect	renforçais /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɛ/	renforçais /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɛ/	renforçait /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɛ/	renforcions /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sjɔ̃/	renforciez /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sje/	renforçaient /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɛ/
	past historic2	renforçai /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se/	renforças /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sa/	renforça /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sa/	renforçâmes /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sam/	renforçâtes /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sat/	renforcèrent /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɛʁ/
	future	renforcerai /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁe/	renforceras /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁa/	renforcera /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁa/	renforcerons /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/	renforcerez /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁe/	renforceront /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	renforcerais /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	renforcerais /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	renforcerait /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	renforcerions /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	renforceriez /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sə.ʁje/	renforceraient /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.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	renforce /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/	renforces /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/	renforce /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/	renforcions /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sjɔ̃/	renforciez /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sje/	renforcent /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/
	imperfect2	renforçasse /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sas/	renforçasses /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sas/	renforçât /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sa/	renforçassions /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sa.sjɔ̃/	renforçassiez /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sa.sje/	renforçassent /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	renforce /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs/	—	renforçons /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.sɔ̃/	renforcez /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.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

• renforçant
• renforçateur
• renforcement

Related terms

• force
• fortifier

Further reading

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