soulager
French
Etymology
Alteration of Old French suslegier (probably under the influence of solacier (“to solace”) and soulas) from Vulgar Latin *subleviō, from Latin sublevō (“I lift up, I raise; I lighten”), from sub- (“from under”) + levō (“I raise, I lift up”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /su.la.ʒe/
audio (file)
Verb
soulager
- (transitive) to relieve, soothe
- (Can we date this quote?) Charles Baudelaire, Le Crépuscule du Soir
- C’est le soir qui soulage / Les esprits.
- It’s the evening which soothes the spirits.
- (Can we date this quote?) Charles Baudelaire, Le Crépuscule du Soir
- (reflexive) to make oneself feel better, to find relief
- (reflexive, colloquial) to relieve oneself
(Can we add an example for this sense?)
Conjugation
This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written soulage- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.
Conjugation of soulager (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | soulager | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | soulageant /su.la.ʒɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | soulagé /su.la.ʒe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | soulage /su.laʒ/ | soulages /su.laʒ/ | soulage /su.laʒ/ | soulageons /su.la.ʒɔ̃/ | soulagez /su.la.ʒe/ | soulagent /su.laʒ/ |
| imperfect | soulageais /su.la.ʒɛ/ | soulageais /su.la.ʒɛ/ | soulageait /su.la.ʒɛ/ | soulagions /su.la.ʒjɔ̃/ | soulagiez /su.la.ʒje/ | soulageaient /su.la.ʒɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | soulageai /su.la.ʒe/ | soulageas /su.la.ʒa/ | soulagea /su.la.ʒa/ | soulageâmes /su.la.ʒam/ | soulageâtes /su.la.ʒat/ | soulagèrent /su.la.ʒɛʁ/ | |
| future | soulagerai /su.laʒ.ʁe/ | soulageras /su.laʒ.ʁa/ | soulagera /su.laʒ.ʁa/ | soulagerons /su.laʒ.ʁɔ̃/ | soulagerez /su.laʒ.ʁe/ | soulageront /su.laʒ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | soulagerais /su.laʒ.ʁɛ/ | soulagerais /su.laʒ.ʁɛ/ | soulagerait /su.laʒ.ʁɛ/ | soulagerions /su.la.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ | soulageriez /su.la.ʒə.ʁje/ | soulageraient /su.laʒ.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 | soulage /su.laʒ/ | soulages /su.laʒ/ | soulage /su.laʒ/ | soulagions /su.la.ʒjɔ̃/ | soulagiez /su.la.ʒje/ | soulagent /su.laʒ/ |
| imperfect2 | soulageasse /su.la.ʒas/ | soulageasses /su.la.ʒas/ | soulageât /su.la.ʒa/ | soulageassions /su.la.ʒa.sjɔ̃/ | soulageassiez /su.la.ʒa.sje/ | soulageassent /su.la.ʒas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | soulage /su.laʒ/ | — | soulageons /su.la.ʒɔ̃/ | soulagez /su.la.ʒe/ | — | |
| 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
- soulagement
Further reading
- “soulager”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- logueras