battre

Battre is a French verb with several core meanings centered on striking, beating, or defeating. It can describe physical impact, competitive victory, or actions in cooking and music, and it also appears in various idioms and reflexive forms.

Etymology and related forms: Battre comes from Old French battre and is cognate with related Romance verbs such as battre (Spanish batir, Italian battere, Portuguese bater). It is irregular and belongs to the third group of French verbs, with a variety of stem changes across tenses.

Conjugation overview: Battre is irregular in many tenses. Present tense forms are je bats, tu bats, il bat, nous battons, vous battez, ils battent. The passé composé uses avoir: j’ai battu, tu as battu, il a battu, nous avons battu, vous avez battu, ils ont battu. Imperfect: battais, battais, battait, battions, battiez, battaient. Future: battrai, battras, battra, battrons, battrez, battront. Subjunctive present: que je batte, que tu battes, qu’il batte, que nous battions, que vous battiez, qu’ils battent. The present participle is battant; the past participle is battu.

Usage and senses: Transitive uses include striking or hitting someone or something (Il bat son adversaire), defeating a foe (Ils ont battu l’équipe adverse), or beating ingredients (battre des œufs en neige). Expressions common in French include battre le fer tant qu’il est chaud (strike while the iron is hot), battre monnaie (to mint money), battre sa coulpe (to beat one’s breast, i.e., repent), battre le record (to beat a record), and se battre (to fight, when used pronominally).

Notes: Intransitive senses often involve competition or force, while reflexive forms expand to fighting or contending. The verb is widely used in figurative and technical contexts as well as everyday speech.