abîmer

See also: abimer

French

Alternative forms

• abimer (post-1990 spelling)
• abymer (archaic)

Etymology

From abime, abîme, from Late Latin *abyssimus < Latin abyssus (“abyss”), from Ancient Greek ἄβυσσος (ábussos, “bottomless pit”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.bi.me/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

abîmer

1. to damage
   • 1968, Serge Gainsbourg (lyrics and music), “Bonnie and Clyde”, in Initials B.B., performed by Serge Gainsbourg ft. Brigitte Bardot:

     Il faut croire que c’est la société / Qui m’a définitivement abîmé

     You have to believe that is's society / Which has damaged me for good

2. (pronominal, formal) to fall down or sink and disappear in a hole, depth, abyss
3. (pronominal, formal) to become absorbed in something (thought, action)
4. (rare or archaic) to throw down in a hole, depth etc.

Conjugation

Conjugation of abîmer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	abîmer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	abîmant /a.bi.mɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		abîmé /a.bi.me/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	abîme /a.bim/	abîmes /a.bim/	abîme /a.bim/	abîmons /a.bi.mɔ̃/	abîmez /a.bi.me/	abîment /a.bim/
	imperfect	abîmais /a.bi.mɛ/	abîmais /a.bi.mɛ/	abîmait /a.bi.mɛ/	abîmions /a.bi.mjɔ̃/	abîmiez /a.bi.mje/	abîmaient /a.bi.mɛ/
	past historic2	abîmai /a.bi.me/	abîmas /a.bi.ma/	abîma /a.bi.ma/	abîmâmes /a.bi.mam/	abîmâtes /a.bi.mat/	abîmèrent /a.bi.mɛʁ/
	future	abîmerai /a.bim.ʁe/	abîmeras /a.bim.ʁa/	abîmera /a.bim.ʁa/	abîmerons /a.bim.ʁɔ̃/	abîmerez /a.bim.ʁe/	abîmeront /a.bim.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	abîmerais /a.bim.ʁɛ/	abîmerais /a.bim.ʁɛ/	abîmerait /a.bim.ʁɛ/	abîmerions /a.bi.mə.ʁjɔ̃/	abîmeriez /a.bi.mə.ʁje/	abîmeraient /a.bim.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	abîme /a.bim/	abîmes /a.bim/	abîme /a.bim/	abîmions /a.bi.mjɔ̃/	abîmiez /a.bi.mje/	abîment /a.bim/
	imperfect2	abîmasse /a.bi.mas/	abîmasses /a.bi.mas/	abîmât /a.bi.ma/	abîmassions /a.bi.ma.sjɔ̃/	abîmassiez /a.bi.ma.sje/	abîmassent /a.bi.mas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	abîme /a.bim/	—	abîmons /a.bi.mɔ̃/	abîmez /a.bi.me/	—
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).

Further reading

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