souffler
French
Etymology
From Old French sofler, from Latin sufflāre, present active infinitive of sufflō.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /su.fle/
audio (file)
Verb
souffler
- to blow
- to blow out
- Souffler des bougies. ― Blow out candles.
- to whisper
- (figuratively) to relax
Conjugation
Conjugation of souffler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | souffler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | soufflant /su.flɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | soufflé /su.fle/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | souffle /sufl/ | souffles /sufl/ | souffle /sufl/ | soufflons /su.flɔ̃/ | soufflez /su.fle/ | soufflent /sufl/ |
| imperfect | soufflais /su.flɛ/ | soufflais /su.flɛ/ | soufflait /su.flɛ/ | soufflions /su.fli.jɔ̃/ | souffliez /su.fli.je/ | soufflaient /su.flɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | soufflai /su.fle/ | soufflas /su.fla/ | souffla /su.fla/ | soufflâmes /su.flam/ | soufflâtes /su.flat/ | soufflèrent /su.flɛʁ/ | |
| future | soufflerai /su.flə.ʁe/ | souffleras /su.flə.ʁa/ | soufflera /su.flə.ʁa/ | soufflerons /su.flə.ʁɔ̃/ | soufflerez /su.flə.ʁe/ | souffleront /su.flə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | soufflerais /su.flə.ʁɛ/ | soufflerais /su.flə.ʁɛ/ | soufflerait /su.flə.ʁɛ/ | soufflerions /su.flə.ʁjɔ̃/ | souffleriez /su.flə.ʁje/ | souffleraient /su.flə.ʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | souffle /sufl/ | souffles /sufl/ | souffle /sufl/ | soufflions /su.fli.jɔ̃/ | souffliez /su.fli.je/ | soufflent /sufl/ |
| imperfect2 | soufflasse /su.flas/ | soufflasses /su.flas/ | soufflât /su.fla/ | soufflassions /su.fla.sjɔ̃/ | soufflassiez /su.fla.sje/ | soufflassent /su.flas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | souffle /sufl/ | — | soufflons /su.flɔ̃/ | soufflez /su.fle/ | — | |
| 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
- maïs soufflé
- ne souffler mot
- pommes soufflées
- soufflé
- souffle
- soufflement
- soufflerie
- souffler le chaud et le froid
Further reading
- “souffler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.