flamber
French
Etymology
From flambe + -er, replacing Old French flammer.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /flɑ̃.be/
Audio: (file) Audio (France (Agen)): (file) Audio (France (Vosges)): (file) Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (France (Somain)): (file)
Verb
flamber
- (transitive) to flame, flambé
- (transitive, figuratively) to squander money, especially on gambling
- (transitive, figuratively) (of costs, rates, etc) to rise sharply; to surge; to skyrocket
- 2025 August 17, Paul Wiseman, “Les prix à la production flambent en raison des droits de douane”, in La Presse[1]:
- Les prix à la production flambent en raison des droits de douane
- Producer prices surge due to tariffs
- (intransitive) to burn, blaze
- to buckle
Conjugation
Conjugation of flamber (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | flamber | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | flambant /flɑ̃.bɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | flambé /flɑ̃.be/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | flambe /flɑ̃b/ |
flambes /flɑ̃b/ |
flambe /flɑ̃b/ |
flambons /flɑ̃.bɔ̃/ |
flambez /flɑ̃.be/ |
flambent /flɑ̃b/ |
| imperfect | flambais /flɑ̃.bɛ/ |
flambais /flɑ̃.bɛ/ |
flambait /flɑ̃.bɛ/ |
flambions /flɑ̃.bjɔ̃/ |
flambiez /flɑ̃.bje/ |
flambaient /flɑ̃.bɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | flambai /flɑ̃.be/ |
flambas /flɑ̃.ba/ |
flamba /flɑ̃.ba/ |
flambâmes /flɑ̃.bam/ |
flambâtes /flɑ̃.bat/ |
flambèrent /flɑ̃.bɛʁ/ | |
| future | flamberai /flɑ̃.bʁe/ |
flamberas /flɑ̃.bʁa/ |
flambera /flɑ̃.bʁa/ |
flamberons /flɑ̃.bʁɔ̃/ |
flamberez /flɑ̃.bʁe/ |
flamberont /flɑ̃.bʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | flamberais /flɑ̃.bʁɛ/ |
flamberais /flɑ̃.bʁɛ/ |
flamberait /flɑ̃.bʁɛ/ |
flamberions /flɑ̃.bə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
flamberiez /flɑ̃.bə.ʁje/ |
flamberaient /flɑ̃.bʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | flambe /flɑ̃b/ |
flambes /flɑ̃b/ |
flambe /flɑ̃b/ |
flambions /flɑ̃.bjɔ̃/ |
flambiez /flɑ̃.bje/ |
flambent /flɑ̃b/ |
| imperfect2 | flambasse /flɑ̃.bas/ |
flambasses /flɑ̃.bas/ |
flambât /flɑ̃.ba/ |
flambassions /flɑ̃.ba.sjɔ̃/ |
flambassiez /flɑ̃.ba.sje/ |
flambassent /flɑ̃.bas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | flambe /flɑ̃b/ |
— | flambons /flɑ̃.bɔ̃/ |
flambez /flɑ̃.be/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Descendants
- ⇒ Czech: flambovat
- ⇒ Dutch: flamberen
Further reading
- “flamber”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.