renforcer

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

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).

Related terms

• force
• fortifier
• renforçant
• renforçateur
• renforcement

Further reading

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