devancer

French

Etymology

From devant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /də.vɑ̃.se/

• Audio

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• Audio (Switzerland)

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Verb

devancer

1. (transitive) to overtake, to get ahead, to surpass
2. (transitive) to arrive earlier than (someone), to do (something before somebody else), to beat to the punch

   Synonyms: prendre de court, coiffer sur le poteau

3. (transitive) to precede, to be ahead of (something in a list)
4. to anticipate, to pre-empt

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 devancer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	devancer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	devançant /də.vɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		devancé /də.vɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	devance /də.vɑ̃s/	devances /də.vɑ̃s/	devance /də.vɑ̃s/	devançons /də.vɑ̃.sɔ̃/	devancez /də.vɑ̃.se/	devancent /də.vɑ̃s/
	imperfect	devançais /də.vɑ̃.sɛ/	devançais /də.vɑ̃.sɛ/	devançait /də.vɑ̃.sɛ/	devancions /də.vɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	devanciez /də.vɑ̃.sje/	devançaient /də.vɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	devançai /də.vɑ̃.se/	devanças /də.vɑ̃.sa/	devança /də.vɑ̃.sa/	devançâmes /də.vɑ̃.sam/	devançâtes /də.vɑ̃.sat/	devancèrent /də.vɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	devancerai /də.vɑ̃.sʁe/	devanceras /də.vɑ̃.sʁa/	devancera /də.vɑ̃.sʁa/	devancerons /də.vɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	devancerez /də.vɑ̃.sʁe/	devanceront /də.vɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	devancerais /də.vɑ̃.sʁɛ/	devancerais /də.vɑ̃.sʁɛ/	devancerait /də.vɑ̃.sʁɛ/	devancerions /də.vɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	devanceriez /də.vɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	devanceraient /də.vɑ̃.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	devance /də.vɑ̃s/	devances /də.vɑ̃s/	devance /də.vɑ̃s/	devancions /də.vɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	devanciez /də.vɑ̃.sje/	devancent /də.vɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	devançasse /də.vɑ̃.sas/	devançasses /də.vɑ̃.sas/	devançât /də.vɑ̃.sa/	devançassions /də.vɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	devançassiez /də.vɑ̃.sa.sje/	devançassent /də.vɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	devance /də.vɑ̃s/	—	devançons /də.vɑ̃.sɔ̃/	devancez /də.vɑ̃.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).

Related terms

• devancement
• devancier

Further reading

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