brief – English verb conjugation

English verb forms of brief

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to brief
Participle: briefed
Gerund: briefing

Cognates

-

Indicative

Present

Ibrief
youbrief
he;she;itbriefs
webrief
youbrief
theybrief

Perfect

Ihave briefed
youhave briefed
he;she;ithas briefed
wehave briefed
youhave briefed
theyhave briefed

Past

Ibriefed
youbriefed
he;she;itbriefed
webriefed
youbriefed
theybriefed

Pluperfect

Ihad briefed
youhad briefed
he;she;ithad briefed
wehad briefed
youhad briefed
theyhad briefed

Future

Iwill brief
youwill brief
he;she;itwill brief
wewill brief
youwill brief
theywill brief

Future Perfect

Iwill have briefed
youwill have briefed
he;she;itwill have briefed
wewill have briefed
youwill have briefed
theywill have briefed

Subjunctive

Present

Ibrief
youbrief
he;she;itbrief
webrief
youbrief
theybrief

Perfect

Ihave briefed
youhave briefed
he;she;ithave briefed
wehave briefed
youhave briefed
theyhave briefed

Imperfect

Ibriefed
youbriefed
he;she;itbriefed
webriefed
youbriefed
theybriefed

Pluperfect

Ihad briefed
youhad briefed
he;she;ithad briefed
wehad briefed
youhad briefed
theyhad briefed

Conditional

Present

Iwould brief
youwould brief
he;she;itwould brief
wewould brief
youwould brief
theywould brief

Perfect

Iwould have briefed
youwould have briefed
he;she;itwould have briefed
wewould have briefed
youwould have briefed
theywould have briefed

Imperative

youbrief
weLet's brief
youbrief

Progressive (Continuous) Forms

Indicative

Present

Iam briefing
youare briefing
he;she;itis briefing
weare briefing
youare briefing
theyare briefing

Perfect

Ihave been briefing
youhave been briefing
he;she;ithas been briefing
wehave been briefing
youhave been briefing
theyhave been briefing

Past

Iwas briefing
youwere briefing
he;she;itwas briefing
wewere briefing
youwere briefing
theywere briefing

Pluperfect

Ihad been briefing
youhad been briefing
he;she;ithad been briefing
wehad been briefing
youhad been briefing
theyhad been briefing

Future

Iwill be briefing
youwill be briefing
he;she;itwill be briefing
wewill be briefing
youwill be briefing
theywill be briefing

Future Perfect

Iwill have been briefing
youwill have been briefing
he;she;itwill have been briefing
wewill have been briefing
youwill have been briefing
theywill have been briefing

Conditional

Present

Iwould be briefing
youwould be briefing
he;she;itwould be briefing
wewould be briefing
youwould be briefing
theywould be briefing

Perfect

Iwould have been briefing
youwould have been briefing
he;she;itwould have been briefing
wewould have been briefing
youwould have been briefing
theywould have been briefing

Other

Verbs conjugated like 'brief'

abandon, abduct, abear, aberr, abject, abord, abort, abound, abraid, abray, abrook, abscind, abscond, absist, absorb, abstain, abstract, accend, accent, accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)

Verbs similar to 'brief'

grief, beef, biff, breed, brew, brian, bribe, brick, bride, briefen,

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

abridge
abbreviate, recapitulate, abstract, epitomize, outline, summarize
edify
advise, inform, enlighten

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. 1292, from L. brevis (adj.) "short, low, little, shallow," from PIE *bregh- "cut, beat, beat (out)" (cf. Gk. brakhys "short," O.C.S. bruzeja "shallow places, shoals"). Noun derivative breve (gen. brevis) meant "letter, summary" (specifically a letter of the pope, less ample and solemn than a bull), and came to mean "letter of authority," which yielded the modern, legal sense of "summary of the facts of a case" (1631). The verb meaning "to give instructions or information to" (1866) was originally "to instruct by a brief" (1862); hence briefing, first attested 1910 but popularized by WWII pre-flight conferences. Briefs "short, tight underwear" is from 1934.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ-
4. Proto-Indo-European *-us
5. Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰusder.
6. Proto-Italic *breɣʷis
7. Latin brevisder.
8. Old French briefbor.
9. Old French brievebor.
10. Middle English bref
11. English brief
12. From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short, brief”). Doublet of breve and merry.

Verbs referencing "brief"

Dutch briefen, Portuguese brifar.

Sample Sentences

  • The U.S. president was briefed on the military coup and its implications on African stability.
  • Lubbers was briefed by Shanghai Mayor Jiang Zemin on the city's economic situation, and this evening, Lubbers attended a banquet hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Governoment^([sic – meaning Government]). [1987 May 18 [1987 May 15], “Visits Shanghai”, in Daily Report: China, volume I, number 095, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Beijing XINHUA, →ISSN, →OCLC, People's Republic of China: International Affairs, page G 2:]
  • It is being briefed that Southeastern operations will return to the private sector, and that use of the Operator of Last Resort team will be a temporary arrangement. [2021 October 20, Industry Insider, “The wheels turn slowly”, in RAIL, number 942, page 68:]