cerner

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French [Term?], from Latin circināre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.ne/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

cerner

1. (transitive) to surround

   Synonym: entourer

   Les gendarmes cernèrent la maison où il s’était réfugié.

   The policemen surrounded the house in which he had been hiding.

   Il avait les yeux cernés de noir.

   He had dark circles around his eyes.

2. (transitive, figuratively) to figure out; to distinguish, identify the boundaries of

   Synonyms: appréhender, saisir

   La discussion a aidé à cerner le problème.

   The discussion helped to clarify the nature and scope of the problem.

Conjugation

Conjugation of cerner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	cerner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	cernant /sɛʁ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cerné /sɛʁ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cerne /sɛʁn/	cernes /sɛʁn/	cerne /sɛʁn/	cernons /sɛʁ.nɔ̃/	cernez /sɛʁ.ne/	cernent /sɛʁn/
	imperfect	cernais /sɛʁ.nɛ/	cernais /sɛʁ.nɛ/	cernait /sɛʁ.nɛ/	cernions /sɛʁ.njɔ̃/	cerniez /sɛʁ.nje/	cernaient /sɛʁ.nɛ/
	past historic2	cernai /sɛʁ.ne/	cernas /sɛʁ.na/	cerna /sɛʁ.na/	cernâmes /sɛʁ.nam/	cernâtes /sɛʁ.nat/	cernèrent /sɛʁ.nɛʁ/
	future	cernerai /sɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	cerneras /sɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	cernera /sɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	cernerons /sɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/	cernerez /sɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	cerneront /sɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	cernerais /sɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	cernerais /sɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	cernerait /sɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	cernerions /sɛʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	cerneriez /sɛʁ.nə.ʁje/	cerneraient /sɛʁ.nə.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	cerne /sɛʁn/	cernes /sɛʁn/	cerne /sɛʁn/	cernions /sɛʁ.njɔ̃/	cerniez /sɛʁ.nje/	cernent /sɛʁn/
	imperfect2	cernasse /sɛʁ.nas/	cernasses /sɛʁ.nas/	cernât /sɛʁ.na/	cernassions /sɛʁ.na.sjɔ̃/	cernassiez /sɛʁ.na.sje/	cernassent /sɛʁ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cerne /sɛʁn/	—	cernons /sɛʁ.nɔ̃/	cernez /sɛʁ.ne/	—
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).

Related terms

• cerne

See also

• décerner
• discerner

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• encrer

Spanish

Alternative forms

• cernir

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cernere, cernō, from Proto-Italic *krinō, from Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Doublet of cernir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θeɾˈneɾ/ [θeɾˈneɾ] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /seɾˈneɾ/ [seɾˈneɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: cer‧ner

Verb

cerner (first-person singular present cierno, first-person singular preterite cerní, past participle cernido)

1. (transitive) to sift

   Synonym: (Asturias) peñerar

2. (intransitive, botany) to blossom, bud
3. (intransitive, pronominal) to circle; to hover
4. (impersonal) to drizzle

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cerner (e-ie alternation) (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			cerner
gerund			cerniendo
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		cernido		cernida
		plural		cernidos		cernidas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	cierno	ciernestú cernésvos	cierne	cernemos	cernéis	ciernen
	imperfect	cernía	cernías	cernía	cerníamos	cerníais	cernían
	preterite	cerní	cerniste	cernió	cernimos	cernisteis	cernieron
	future	cerneré	cernerás	cernerá	cerneremos	cerneréis	cernerán
	conditional	cernería	cernerías	cernería	cerneríamos	cerneríais	cernerían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	cierna	ciernastú cernásvos2	cierna	cernamos	cernáis	ciernan
	imperfect (ra)	cerniera	cernieras	cerniera	cerniéramos	cernierais	cernieran
	imperfect (se)	cerniese	cernieses	cerniese	cerniésemos	cernieseis	cerniesen
	future1	cerniere	cernieres	cerniere	cerniéremos	cerniereis	cernieren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		ciernetú cernévos	cierna	cernamos	cerned	ciernan
	negative		no ciernas	no cierna	no cernamos	no cernáis	no ciernan

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of cerner (e-ie alternation)

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive cerner	dative	cernerme	cernerte	cernerle, cernerse	cernernos	cerneros	cernerles, cernerse
	accusative	cernerme	cernerte	cernerlo, cernerla, cernerse	cernernos	cerneros	cernerlos, cernerlas, cernerse
with gerund cerniendo	dative	cerniéndome	cerniéndote	cerniéndole, cerniéndose	cerniéndonos	cerniéndoos	cerniéndoles, cerniéndose
	accusative	cerniéndome	cerniéndote	cerniéndolo, cerniéndola, cerniéndose	cerniéndonos	cerniéndoos	cerniéndolos, cerniéndolas, cerniéndose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative cierne	dative	ciérneme	ciérnete	ciérnele	ciérnenos	not used	ciérneles
	accusative	ciérneme	ciérnete	ciérnelo, ciérnela	ciérnenos	not used	ciérnelos, ciérnelas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative cerné	dative	cerneme	cernete	cernele	cernenos	not used	cerneles
	accusative	cerneme	cernete	cernelo, cernela	cernenos	not used	cernelos, cernelas
with formal second-person singular imperative cierna	dative	ciérname	not used	ciérnale, ciérnase	ciérnanos	not used	ciérnales
	accusative	ciérname	not used	ciérnalo, ciérnala, ciérnase	ciérnanos	not used	ciérnalos, ciérnalas
with first-person plural imperative cernamos	dative	not used	cernámoste	cernámosle	cernámonos	cernámoos	cernámosles
	accusative	not used	cernámoste	cernámoslo, cernámosla	cernámonos	cernámoos	cernámoslos, cernámoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative cerned	dative	cernedme	not used	cernedle	cernednos	cerneos	cernedles
	accusative	cernedme	not used	cernedlo, cernedla	cernednos	cerneos	cernedlos, cernedlas
with formal second-person plural imperative ciernan	dative	ciérnanme	not used	ciérnanle	ciérnannos	not used	ciérnanles, ciérnanse
	accusative	ciérnanme	not used	ciérnanlo, ciérnanla	ciérnannos	not used	ciérnanlos, ciérnanlas, ciérnanse

Related terms

• cierne

Further reading

• “cerner”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025