embellir

French

Etymology

From en- +‎ bel +‎ -ir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.bɛ.liʁ/, /ɑ̃.be.liʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

embellir

1. to improve, make more attractive
2. to embellish

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 embellir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	embellir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	embellissant /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sɑ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		embelli /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	embellis /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	embellis /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	embellit /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	embellissons /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sɔ̃/	embellissez /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.se/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.se/	embellissent /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/
	imperfect	embellissais /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sɛ/	embellissais /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sɛ/	embellissait /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sɛ/	embellissions /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sjɔ̃/	embellissiez /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sje/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sje/	embellissaient /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sɛ/
	past historic2	embellis /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	embellis /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	embellit /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	embellîmes /ɑ̃.bɛ.lim/ or /ɑ̃.be.lim/	embellîtes /ɑ̃.bɛ.lit/ or /ɑ̃.be.lit/	embellirent /ɑ̃.bɛ.liʁ/ or /ɑ̃.be.liʁ/
	future	embellirai /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁe/	embelliras /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁa/	embellira /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁa/	embellirons /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁɔ̃/	embellirez /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁe/	embelliront /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	embellirais /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁɛ/	embellirais /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁɛ/	embellirait /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁɛ/	embellirions /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁjɔ̃/	embelliriez /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁje/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.ʁje/	embelliraient /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.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	embellisse /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/	embellisses /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/	embellisse /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/	embellissions /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sjɔ̃/	embellissiez /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sje/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sje/	embellissent /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/
	imperfect2	embellisse /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/	embellisses /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/	embellît /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	embellissions /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sjɔ̃/	embellissiez /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sje/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sje/	embellissent /ɑ̃.bɛ.lis/ or /ɑ̃.be.lis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	embellis /ɑ̃.bɛ.li/ or /ɑ̃.be.li/	—	embellissons /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.sɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.sɔ̃/	embellissez /ɑ̃.bɛ.li.se/ or /ɑ̃.be.li.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

• embellissement

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• anbelir
• enbelir

Etymology

en- +‎ bel +‎ -ir.

Verb

embellir

1. to make prettier; to make more attractive; to embellish

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a second-group verb (ending in -ir, with an -iss- infix). Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of embellir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		embellir			avoir embelli
gerund		en embellissant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		embellissant
past participle		embelli
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	embellis	embellis	embellist	embellissons	embellissez	embellissent
	imperfect	embellissoie, embellisseie	embellissoies, embellisseies	embellissoit, embellisseit	embellissiiens, embellissiens	embellissiiez, embellissiez	embellissoient, embellisseient
	preterite	embelli	embellis	embelli	embellimes	embellistes	embellirent
	future	embellirai	embelliras	embellira	embellirons	embelliroiz, embellireiz, embellirez	embelliront
	conditional	embelliroie, embellireie	embelliroies, embellireies	embelliroit, embellireit	embelliriiens, embelliriens	embelliriiez, embelliriez	embelliroient, embellireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	embellisse	embellisses	embellisse	embellissons	embellissez	embellissent
	imperfect	embellisse	embellisses	embellist	embellissons, embellissiens	embellissoiz, embellissez, embellissiez	embellissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	embellis	—	embellissons	embellissez	—

Descendants

• → English: embellish
• French: embellir