poncer

French

Etymology

From ponce (“pumice”) +‎ -er.

Verb

poncer

1. to rub down with an abrasive, to sand
2. (art) to copy with pouncing paper

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 poncer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	poncer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ponçant /pɔ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		poncé /pɔ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ponce /pɔ̃s/	ponces /pɔ̃s/	ponce /pɔ̃s/	ponçons /pɔ̃.sɔ̃/	poncez /pɔ̃.se/	poncent /pɔ̃s/
	imperfect	ponçais /pɔ̃.sɛ/	ponçais /pɔ̃.sɛ/	ponçait /pɔ̃.sɛ/	poncions /pɔ̃.sjɔ̃/	ponciez /pɔ̃.sje/	ponçaient /pɔ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	ponçai /pɔ̃.se/	ponças /pɔ̃.sa/	ponça /pɔ̃.sa/	ponçâmes /pɔ̃.sam/	ponçâtes /pɔ̃.sat/	poncèrent /pɔ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	poncerai /pɔ̃.sʁe/	ponceras /pɔ̃.sʁa/	poncera /pɔ̃.sʁa/	poncerons /pɔ̃.sʁɔ̃/	poncerez /pɔ̃.sʁe/	ponceront /pɔ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	poncerais /pɔ̃.sʁɛ/	poncerais /pɔ̃.sʁɛ/	poncerait /pɔ̃.sʁɛ/	poncerions /pɔ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	ponceriez /pɔ̃.sə.ʁje/	ponceraient /pɔ̃.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	ponce /pɔ̃s/	ponces /pɔ̃s/	ponce /pɔ̃s/	poncions /pɔ̃.sjɔ̃/	ponciez /pɔ̃.sje/	poncent /pɔ̃s/
	imperfect2	ponçasse /pɔ̃.sas/	ponçasses /pɔ̃.sas/	ponçât /pɔ̃.sa/	ponçassions /pɔ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	ponçassiez /pɔ̃.sa.sje/	ponçassent /pɔ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ponce /pɔ̃s/	—	ponçons /pɔ̃.sɔ̃/	poncez /pɔ̃.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).

Descendants

• → German: pausen

Further reading

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