fiancer

French

Etymology

From Middle French fiancer, from Old French fiancier. Equivalent to fiance +‎ -er. Compare Italian fidanzare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fjɑ̃.se/, /fi.jɑ̃.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

fiancer

1. (usually reflexive) to get engaged (to be married)

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 fiancer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	fiancer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	fiançant /fjɑ̃.sɑ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		fiancé /fjɑ̃.se/ or /fi.jɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	fiance /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/	fiances /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/	fiance /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/	fiançons /fjɑ̃.sɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɔ̃/	fiancez /fjɑ̃.se/ or /fi.jɑ̃.se/	fiancent /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/
	imperfect	fiançais /fjɑ̃.sɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɛ/	fiançais /fjɑ̃.sɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɛ/	fiançait /fjɑ̃.sɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɛ/	fiancions /fjɑ̃.sjɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	fianciez /fjɑ̃.sje/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sje/	fiançaient /fjɑ̃.sɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	fiançai /fjɑ̃.se/ or /fi.jɑ̃.se/	fianças /fjɑ̃.sa/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sa/	fiança /fjɑ̃.sa/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sa/	fiançâmes /fjɑ̃.sam/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sam/	fiançâtes /fjɑ̃.sat/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sat/	fiancèrent /fjɑ̃.sɛʁ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	fiancerai /fjɑ̃.sʁe/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁe/	fianceras /fjɑ̃.sʁa/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁa/	fiancera /fjɑ̃.sʁa/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁa/	fiancerons /fjɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	fiancerez /fjɑ̃.sʁe/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁe/	fianceront /fjɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	fiancerais /fjɑ̃.sʁɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁɛ/	fiancerais /fjɑ̃.sʁɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁɛ/	fiancerait /fjɑ̃.sʁɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁɛ/	fiancerions /fjɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	fianceriez /fjɑ̃.sə.ʁje/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	fianceraient /fjɑ̃.sʁɛ/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sʁɛ/
(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	fiance /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/	fiances /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/	fiance /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/	fiancions /fjɑ̃.sjɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	fianciez /fjɑ̃.sje/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sje/	fiancent /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	fiançasse /fjɑ̃.sas/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sas/	fiançasses /fjɑ̃.sas/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sas/	fiançât /fjɑ̃.sa/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sa/	fiançassions /fjɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	fiançassiez /fjɑ̃.sa.sje/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sa.sje/	fiançassent /fjɑ̃.sas/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	fiance /fjɑ̃s/ or /fi.jɑ̃s/	—	fiançons /fjɑ̃.sɔ̃/ or /fi.jɑ̃.sɔ̃/	fiancez /fjɑ̃.se/ or /fi.jɑ̃.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

• fiançailles

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

Old French fiancier.

Verb

fiancer

1. to promise
   • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 52:

     fiancerent tous que se Lancelot venoit ilz n yroient mie avec lui

     they all promised that if Lancelot came they wouldn't go with him

Conjugation

• As parler except c becomes ç before a and o. May remain c in older manuscripts.
• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of fiancer

infinitive	simple	fiancer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	fiançant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		fiancé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	fiance	fiances	fiance	fiançons	fiancez	fiancent
	imperfect	fiançois, fiançoys	fiançois, fiançoys	fiançoit, fiançoyt	fiancions, fiançons	fianciez, fiancyez	fiançoient, fiançoyent
	past historic	fiança	fianças	fiança	fiançasmes	fiançastes	fiancerent
	future	fiancerai, fianceray	fianceras	fiancera	fiancerons	fiancerez	fianceront
	conditional	fiancerois, fianceroys	fiancerois, fianceroys	fianceroit, fianceroyt	fiancerions, fianceryons	fianceriez, fianceryez	fianceroient, fianceroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	fiance	fiances	fiance	fiançons	fiancez	fiancent
	imperfect	fiançasse	fiançasses	fiançast	fiançassions	fiançassiez	fiançassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	fiance	—	fiançons	fiancez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: fiancer