vaincre

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French veintre, later veincre, vencre, inherited from Latin vincere, from Proto-Italic *winkō, from Proto-Indo-European *wi-n-k-, nasal infix from *weyk- (“to overcome”). The current pronunciation is influenced by the first-person singular indicative present form vincō. Compare also Spanish vencer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛ̃kʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

vaincre

1. (transitive) to defeat, vanquish

   s’avouer vaincu ― to admit defeat; to give up

   • 1965 November, Carlo François, “Poésie d'André Marissel”, in The French Review, volume 39, number 2, American Association of Teachers of French, pages 265–274:

     Le jardinier-poète sait parfois qu’il est fécond et que son Arbre est fertile. Ne vainc-t-il pas la mort chaque fois qu’il plante un arbre-poème?

     The gardener-poet knows sometimes that he is fecund and that his Tree is fertile. Does he not defeat death every time he plants a tree-poem?

2. (intransitive) to win

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like vendre, except that its usual stem vainqu- becomes vainc- when either there is no ending, or the ending starts with -u- or a written consonant. Additionally, when inverted the third person singular in the present adds the infix -t-: vainc-t-il? These are strictly spelling changes; pronunciation-wise, the verb is conjugated exactly like vendre.

Conjugation of vaincre (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	vaincre
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	vainquant /vɛ̃.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		vaincu /vɛ̃.ky/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	vaincs /vɛ̃/	vaincs /vɛ̃/	vainc /vɛ̃/	vainquons /vɛ̃.kɔ̃/	vainquez /vɛ̃.ke/	vainquent /vɛ̃k/
	imperfect	vainquais /vɛ̃.kɛ/	vainquais /vɛ̃.kɛ/	vainquait /vɛ̃.kɛ/	vainquions /vɛ̃.kjɔ̃/	vainquiez /vɛ̃.kje/	vainquaient /vɛ̃.kɛ/
	past historic2	vainquis /vɛ̃.ki/	vainquis /vɛ̃.ki/	vainquit /vɛ̃.ki/	vainquîmes /vɛ̃.kim/	vainquîtes /vɛ̃.kit/	vainquirent /vɛ̃.kiʁ/
	future	vaincrai /vɛ̃.kʁe/	vaincras /vɛ̃.kʁa/	vaincra /vɛ̃.kʁa/	vaincrons /vɛ̃.kʁɔ̃/	vaincrez /vɛ̃.kʁe/	vaincront /vɛ̃.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	vaincrais /vɛ̃.kʁɛ/	vaincrais /vɛ̃.kʁɛ/	vaincrait /vɛ̃.kʁɛ/	vaincrions /vɛ̃.kʁi.jɔ̃/	vaincriez /vɛ̃.kʁi.je/	vaincraient /vɛ̃.kʁɛ/
(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	vainque /vɛ̃k/	vainques /vɛ̃k/	vainque /vɛ̃k/	vainquions /vɛ̃.kjɔ̃/	vainquiez /vɛ̃.kje/	vainquent /vɛ̃k/
	imperfect2	vainquisse /vɛ̃.kis/	vainquisses /vɛ̃.kis/	vainquît /vɛ̃.ki/	vainquissions /vɛ̃.ki.sjɔ̃/	vainquissiez /vɛ̃.ki.sje/	vainquissent /vɛ̃.kis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	vaincs /vɛ̃/	—	vainquons /vɛ̃.kɔ̃/	vainquez /vɛ̃.ke/	—
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

• battre
• gagner
• surmonter
• triompher

Derived terms

• à vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire
• vaincu
• vainqueur

Related terms

• convaincre
• évincer
• victoire
  • victorieux

Descendants

• → Esperanto: venki

Further reading

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