sombrer

English

Adjective

sombrer

1. comparative form of sombre: more sombre

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French

Etymology

From a Middle French soussombrer, from alteration of soussoubrer, with influence from sombre, and the first part perhaps being interpreted as a prefix. The word soussoubrer was probably a loan through a maritime route from Portuguese soçobrar, itself likely from Spanish zozobrar, from Old Spanish sozobrar, and this from Old Catalan sotsobrar, from sotsobre, from sots + sobre, or from Vulgar Latin *subsuperāre, from Latin sub + super.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɔ̃.bʁe/

Verb

sombrer

1. (intransitive, literary, of a vessel) to sink
2. (intransitive, literary, figuratively) to sink (+dans; into)

   sombrer dans l'alcoolisme

   sink into [the pit of] alcoholism

3. (figuratively, intransitive) to whittle away (disappear)

Conjugation

Conjugation of sombrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	sombrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	sombrant /sɔ̃.bʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		sombré /sɔ̃.bʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/	sombres /sɔ̃bʁ/	sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/	sombrons /sɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/	sombrez /sɔ̃.bʁe/	sombrent /sɔ̃bʁ/
	imperfect	sombrais /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/	sombrais /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/	sombrait /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/	sombrions /sɔ̃.bʁi.jɔ̃/	sombriez /sɔ̃.bʁi.je/	sombraient /sɔ̃.bʁɛ/
	past historic2	sombrai /sɔ̃.bʁe/	sombras /sɔ̃.bʁa/	sombra /sɔ̃.bʁa/	sombrâmes /sɔ̃.bʁam/	sombrâtes /sɔ̃.bʁat/	sombrèrent /sɔ̃.bʁɛʁ/
	future	sombrerai /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁe/	sombreras /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁa/	sombrera /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁa/	sombrerons /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/	sombrerez /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁe/	sombreront /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	sombrerais /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/	sombrerais /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/	sombrerait /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁɛ/	sombrerions /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	sombreriez /sɔ̃.bʁə.ʁje/	sombreraient /sɔ̃.bʁə.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	sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/	sombres /sɔ̃bʁ/	sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/	sombrions /sɔ̃.bʁi.jɔ̃/	sombriez /sɔ̃.bʁi.je/	sombrent /sɔ̃bʁ/
	imperfect2	sombrasse /sɔ̃.bʁas/	sombrasses /sɔ̃.bʁas/	sombrât /sɔ̃.bʁa/	sombrassions /sɔ̃.bʁa.sjɔ̃/	sombrassiez /sɔ̃.bʁa.sje/	sombrassent /sɔ̃.bʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sombre /sɔ̃bʁ/	—	sombrons /sɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/	sombrez /sɔ̃.bʁe/	—
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).

Synonyms

(of a vessel, to sink):

• couler

(figuratively, to sink):

• s’écouler

Further reading

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