cabrer

French

Etymology

Perhaps from cabre. Compare Spanish cabrear. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.bʁe/
• Rhymes: -e

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

cabrer

1. (reflexive) to rear up (on a horse or a motorcycle)
2. (reflexive, figurative) to complain
   • 1992, Amélie Nothomb, Hygiène de l'assassin; republished as Alison Anderson, transl., Hygiene and the Assassin, 2010:

     Le journaliste nota sur le carnet : « T. accueille les compliments sans se cabrer. »

     The journalist wrote in his notebook: “T. does not respond to compliments.”

Conjugation

Conjugation of cabrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	cabrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	cabrant /ka.bʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cabré /ka.bʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cabre /kabʁ/	cabres /kabʁ/	cabre /kabʁ/	cabrons /ka.bʁɔ̃/	cabrez /ka.bʁe/	cabrent /kabʁ/
	imperfect	cabrais /ka.bʁɛ/	cabrais /ka.bʁɛ/	cabrait /ka.bʁɛ/	cabrions /ka.bʁi.jɔ̃/	cabriez /ka.bʁi.je/	cabraient /ka.bʁɛ/
	past historic2	cabrai /ka.bʁe/	cabras /ka.bʁa/	cabra /ka.bʁa/	cabrâmes /ka.bʁam/	cabrâtes /ka.bʁat/	cabrèrent /ka.bʁɛʁ/
	future	cabrerai /ka.bʁə.ʁe/	cabreras /ka.bʁə.ʁa/	cabrera /ka.bʁə.ʁa/	cabrerons /ka.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/	cabrerez /ka.bʁə.ʁe/	cabreront /ka.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	cabrerais /ka.bʁə.ʁɛ/	cabrerais /ka.bʁə.ʁɛ/	cabrerait /ka.bʁə.ʁɛ/	cabrerions /ka.bʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	cabreriez /ka.bʁə.ʁje/	cabreraient /ka.bʁə.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	cabre /kabʁ/	cabres /kabʁ/	cabre /kabʁ/	cabrions /ka.bʁi.jɔ̃/	cabriez /ka.bʁi.je/	cabrent /kabʁ/
	imperfect2	cabrasse /ka.bʁas/	cabrasses /ka.bʁas/	cabrât /ka.bʁa/	cabrassions /ka.bʁa.sjɔ̃/	cabrassiez /ka.bʁa.sje/	cabrassent /ka.bʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cabre /kabʁ/	—	cabrons /ka.bʁɔ̃/	cabrez /ka.bʁe/	—
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).

Further reading

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