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Both of these verbs can be translated by consume in English, but in different senses.

In modern usage, the verb consumer means consume in the sense of "destroy":

L'incendie a consumé tout le village.
The fire destroyed the whole village.

On the other hand, the verb consommer means consume as in use:

Cette voiture consomme beaucoup de diesel.
This car consumes a lot of diesel.
Les britanniques consomment trop d'eau.
The British consume too much water.

Interestingly, the two verbs have shifted in meaning over time. Originally, consumer, like English consume, covered the meaning of "use", while consommer had a meaning closer to "complete", "fulfil", as in the English consummate (which has the same origin as consommer). This means that in earlier literature (and in fact occasionally in modern usage of some speakers) you may find the verb consumer used where generally consommer would be used nowadays.

The French for a consumer is generally consommateur, and consumption is consommation.

And as a final contradiction to everything I've just said, the French for consumerism is... le consumérisme.

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