travailler
French
Etymology
From Middle French travailler, from Old French traveillier (“to suffer”), from Vulgar Latin *tripaliāre, present active infinitive of *tripaliō (“to torture; to toil, labor”), from *tripalium (“torture instrument”), from Latin tripālis (“having three stakes”). Compare Franco-Provençal travalyer, Catalan treballar, Portuguese trabalhar, Spanish trabajar and English travail. Also compare English travel.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tʁa.va.je/
audio (file)
Verb
travailler
- to work
- Il ne fait que travailler.
- All he does is work.
- to study
- to struggle
- Elle, qui n'était pas grosse comme un œuf / envieuse s'étend, et s'enfle, et se travaille / pour égaler l'animal en grosseur
- It, no larger than an egg, envious, elongated, stretched, and struggled / to equal the animal in size
- (Jean De La Fontaine)
Conjugation
Conjugation of travailler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | travailler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | travaillant /tʁa.va.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | travaillé /tʁa.va.je/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | travaille /tʁa.vaj/ | travailles /tʁa.vaj/ | travaille /tʁa.vaj/ | travaillons /tʁa.va.jɔ̃/ | travaillez /tʁa.va.je/ | travaillent /tʁa.vaj/ |
| imperfect | travaillais /tʁa.va.jɛ/ | travaillais /tʁa.va.jɛ/ | travaillait /tʁa.va.jɛ/ | travaillions /tʁa.vaj.jɔ̃/ | travailliez /tʁa.vaj.je/ | travaillaient /tʁa.va.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | travaillai /tʁa.va.je/ | travaillas /tʁa.va.ja/ | travailla /tʁa.va.ja/ | travaillâmes /tʁa.va.jam/ | travaillâtes /tʁa.va.jat/ | travaillèrent /tʁa.va.jɛʁ/ | |
| future | travaillerai /tʁa.vaj.ʁe/ | travailleras /tʁa.vaj.ʁa/ | travaillera /tʁa.vaj.ʁa/ | travaillerons /tʁa.vaj.ʁɔ̃/ | travaillerez /tʁa.vaj.ʁe/ | travailleront /tʁa.vaj.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | travaillerais /tʁa.vaj.ʁɛ/ | travaillerais /tʁa.vaj.ʁɛ/ | travaillerait /tʁa.vaj.ʁɛ/ | travaillerions /tʁa.va.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ | travailleriez /tʁa.va.jə.ʁje/ | travailleraient /tʁa.vaj.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 | travaille /tʁa.vaj/ | travailles /tʁa.vaj/ | travaille /tʁa.vaj/ | travaillions /tʁa.vaj.jɔ̃/ | travailliez /tʁa.vaj.je/ | travaillent /tʁa.vaj/ |
| imperfect2 | travaillasse /tʁa.va.jas/ | travaillasses /tʁa.va.jas/ | travaillât /tʁa.va.ja/ | travaillassions /tʁa.va.ja.sjɔ̃/ | travaillassiez /tʁa.va.ja.sje/ | travaillassent /tʁa.va.jas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | travaille /tʁa.vaj/ | — | travaillons /tʁa.va.jɔ̃/ | travaillez /tʁa.va.je/ | — | |
| 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). | |||||||
Synonyms
- (work): bosser (France, informal), taffer (France, informal), turbiner (France, informal)
Related terms
- travail
- travailliste
- travailleur
- travailleuse
Descendants
- Haitian Creole: travay
- → Danish: travaillere
- → Italian: travagliare
Further reading
- “travailler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
Alternative forms
- travaillier
Etymology
From Old French traveiller.
Verb
travailler
- to suffer (be in a state of suffering)
Conjugation
- Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of travailler
| infinitive | simple | travailler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle1 or gerund2 | simple | travaillant | |||||
| compound | present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | travaillé | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | ie (i’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ilz, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | travaille | travailles | travaille | travaillons | travaillez | travaillent |
| imperfect | travaillois, travailloys | travaillois, travailloys | travailloit, travailloyt | travaillions, travaillyons | travailliez, travaillyez | travailloient, travailloyent | |
| past historic | travailla | travaillas | travailla | travaillasmes | travaillastes | travaillerent | |
| future | travaillerai, travailleray | travailleras | travaillera | travaillerons | travaillerez | travailleront | |
| conditional | travaillerois, travailleroys | travaillerois, travailleroys | travailleroit, travailleroyt | travaillerions, travailleryons | travailleriez, travailleryez | travailleroient, travailleroyent | |
| (compound tenses) | present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que ie (i’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ilz, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | travaille | travailles | travaille | travaillons | travaillez | travaillent |
| imperfect | travaillasse | travaillasses | travaillast | travaillassions | travaillassiez | travaillassent | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | travaille | — | travaillons | travaillez | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679. | |||||||
| 2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180). | |||||||
Descendants
- French: travailler
- Haitian Creole: travay
- → Danish: travaillere
- → Italian: travagliare
Old French
Verb
travailler
- Alternative form of traveillier
Conjugation
This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-aill, *-aills, *-aillt are modified to ail, auz, aut. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
Conjugation of travailler (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | travailler | avoir travaillé | |||||
| gerund | en travaillant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| present participle | travaillant | ||||||
| past participle | travaillé | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses | present | travail | travailles | travaille | travaillons | travaillez | travaillent |
| imperfect | travailloie, travailleie, travailloe, travailleve | travailloies, travailleies, travailloes, travailleves | travailloit, travailleit, travaillot, travailleve | travailliiens, travailliens | travailliiez, travailliez | travailloient, travailleient, travailloent, travaillevent | |
| preterite | travaillai | travaillas | travailla | travaillames | travaillastes | travaillerent | |
| future | travaillerai | travailleras | travaillera | travaillerons | travailleroiz, travaillereiz, travaillerez | travailleront | |
| conditional | travailleroie, travaillereie | travailleroies, travaillereies | travailleroit, travaillereit | travailleriiens, travailleriens | travailleriiez, travailleriez | travailleroient, travaillereient | |
| compound tenses | present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses | present | travail | travauz | travaut | travaillons | travaillez | travaillent |
| imperfect | travaillasse | travaillasses | travaillast | travaillissons, travaillissiens | travaillissoiz, travaillissez, travaillissiez | travaillassent | |
| compound tenses | past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | travaille | — | travaillons | travaillez | — | ||