affaiblir

French

Etymology

From a- +‎ faible (“weak”) +‎ -ir.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /a.fɛ.bliʁ/, /a.fe.bliʁ/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

affaiblir

  1. (transitive) to weaken, to flag, to make weaker, to enfeeble, enervate, attenuate
  2. (reflexive) to weaken, to become weaker
    Ses muscles se sont affaiblis avec le temps.
    His muscles weakened with time.

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of affaiblir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple affaiblir
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple affaiblissant
/a.fɛ.bli.sɑ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.sɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle affaibli
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present affaiblis
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 affaiblis
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 affaiblit
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 affaiblissons
/a.fɛ.bli.sɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.sɔ̃/		 affaiblissez
/a.fɛ.bli.se/ or /a.fe.bli.se/		 affaiblissent
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/
imperfect affaiblissais
/a.fɛ.bli.sɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.sɛ/		 affaiblissais
/a.fɛ.bli.sɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.sɛ/		 affaiblissait
/a.fɛ.bli.sɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.sɛ/		 affaiblissions
/a.fɛ.bli.sjɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.sjɔ̃/		 affaiblissiez
/a.fɛ.bli.sje/ or /a.fe.bli.sje/		 affaiblissaient
/a.fɛ.bli.sɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.sɛ/
past historic2 affaiblis
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 affaiblis
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 affaiblit
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 affaiblîmes
/a.fɛ.blim/ or /a.fe.blim/		 affaiblîtes
/a.fɛ.blit/ or /a.fe.blit/		 affaiblirent
/a.fɛ.bliʁ/ or /a.fe.bliʁ/
future affaiblirai
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁe/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁe/		 affaibliras
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁa/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁa/		 affaiblira
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁa/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁa/		 affaiblirons
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁɔ̃/		 affaiblirez
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁe/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁe/		 affaibliront
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁɔ̃/
conditional affaiblirais
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁɛ/		 affaiblirais
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁɛ/		 affaiblirait
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁɛ/		 affaiblirions
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁjɔ̃/		 affaibliriez
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁje/ or /a.fe.bli.ʁje/		 affaibliraient
/a.fɛ.bli.ʁɛ/ or /a.fe.bli.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 affaiblisse
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/		 affaiblisses
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/		 affaiblisse
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/		 affaiblissions
/a.fɛ.bli.sjɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.sjɔ̃/		 affaiblissiez
/a.fɛ.bli.sje/ or /a.fe.bli.sje/		 affaiblissent
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/
imperfect2 affaiblisse
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/		 affaiblisses
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/		 affaiblît
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 affaiblissions
/a.fɛ.bli.sjɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.sjɔ̃/		 affaiblissiez
/a.fɛ.bli.sje/ or /a.fe.bli.sje/		 affaiblissent
/a.fɛ.blis/ or /a.fe.blis/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — affaiblis
/a.fɛ.bli/ or /a.fe.bli/		 — affaiblissons
/a.fɛ.bli.sɔ̃/ or /a.fe.bli.sɔ̃/		 affaiblissez
/a.fɛ.bli.se/ or /a.fe.bli.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

Further reading
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