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Definition 2025
battre
battre
See also: bättre
French
Verb
battre
- to beat; to defeat
- to beat up
- (takes a reflexive pronoun) to fight
- (cooking) to whisk or whip (eggs)
- (agriculture) to thresh
- (card games) to shuffle
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like vendre, perdre, etc. (sometimes called the regular -re verbs), except that instead of *batt and *batts, it has the forms bat and bats. This is strictly a spelling change; pronunciation-wise, the verb is conjugated exactly like vendre.
Conjugation of battre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | battre | avoir battu | |||||
| gerund | en battant | en ayant battu | |||||
| present participle | battant /ba.tɑ̃/ |
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| past participle | battu /ba.ty/ |
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| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | bats /ba/ |
bats /ba/ |
bat /ba/ |
battons /ba.tɔ̃/ |
battez /ba.te/ |
battent /bat/ |
| imperfect | battais /ba.tɛ/ |
battais /ba.tɛ/ |
battait /ba.tɛ/ |
battions /ba.tjɔ̃/ |
battiez /ba.tje/ |
battaient /ba.tɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | battis /ba.ti/ |
battis /ba.ti/ |
battit /ba.ti/ |
battîmes /ba.tim/ |
battîtes /ba.tit/ |
battirent /ba.tiʁ/ |
|
| future | battrai /ba.tʁe/ |
battras /ba.tʁa/ |
battra /ba.tʁa/ |
battrons /ba.tʁɔ̃/ |
battrez /ba.tʁe/ |
battront /ba.tʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | battrais /ba.tʁɛ/ |
battrais /ba.tʁɛ/ |
battrait /ba.tʁɛ/ |
battrions /ba.tʁi.jɔ̃/ |
battriez /ba.tʁi.je/ |
battraient /ba.tʁɛ/ |
|
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | batte /bat/ |
battes /bat/ |
batte /bat/ |
battions /ba.tjɔ̃/ |
battiez /ba.tje/ |
battent /bat/ |
| imperfect1 |
battisse /ba.tis/ |
battisses /ba.tis/ |
battît /ba.ti/ |
battissions /ba.ti.sjɔ̃/ |
battissiez /ba.ti.sje/ |
battissent /ba.tis/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | bats /ba/ |
— | battons /ba.tɔ̃/ |
battez /ba.te/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Related terms
Norman
Etymology
From Old French batre, from Late Latin battō, alternative form of Latin battuō (“I beat, pound; I fight”).
Verb
battre (gerund batt'tie)
Derived terms
- battre lé beurre (“to make butter”)