ébaucher
French
Etymology
From Middle French esbaucher (“to rough-hew, frame”), alteration (due to Middle French bauche (“beam, wooden crosspiece”)) of Old French esbosquier, esboskier (“to rough-hew beams”), from es- (“out”) + bosc (“wood, firewood”), from Frankish *bosk (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“wood, thicket”). Cognate with Old French esbochier (“to prune grapes”), French bois (“wood”), bau (“beam”). More at bush, balk.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.bo.ʃe/
Audio (file)
Verb
ébaucher
- (transitive) to sketch, rough out (a plan, picture); to draft (a piece of writing)
- (transitive) to start up (a conversation, friendship etc.)
- (reflexive) to form, take shape
- (reflexive) to open up, start up
Conjugation
Conjugation of ébaucher (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | ébaucher | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | ébauchant /e.bo.ʃɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | ébauché /e.bo.ʃe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | ébauche /e.boʃ/ | ébauches /e.boʃ/ | ébauche /e.boʃ/ | ébauchons /e.bo.ʃɔ̃/ | ébauchez /e.bo.ʃe/ | ébauchent /e.boʃ/ |
| imperfect | ébauchais /e.bo.ʃɛ/ | ébauchais /e.bo.ʃɛ/ | ébauchait /e.bo.ʃɛ/ | ébauchions /e.bo.ʃjɔ̃/ | ébauchiez /e.bo.ʃje/ | ébauchaient /e.bo.ʃɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | ébauchai /e.bo.ʃe/ | ébauchas /e.bo.ʃa/ | ébaucha /e.bo.ʃa/ | ébauchâmes /e.bo.ʃam/ | ébauchâtes /e.bo.ʃat/ | ébauchèrent /e.bo.ʃɛʁ/ | |
| future | ébaucherai /e.boʃ.ʁe/ | ébaucheras /e.boʃ.ʁa/ | ébauchera /e.boʃ.ʁa/ | ébaucherons /e.boʃ.ʁɔ̃/ | ébaucherez /e.boʃ.ʁe/ | ébaucheront /e.boʃ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | ébaucherais /e.boʃ.ʁɛ/ | ébaucherais /e.boʃ.ʁɛ/ | ébaucherait /e.boʃ.ʁɛ/ | ébaucherions /e.bo.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ | ébaucheriez /e.bo.ʃə.ʁje/ | ébaucheraient /e.boʃ.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 | ébauche /e.boʃ/ | ébauches /e.boʃ/ | ébauche /e.boʃ/ | ébauchions /e.bo.ʃjɔ̃/ | ébauchiez /e.bo.ʃje/ | ébauchent /e.boʃ/ |
| imperfect2 | ébauchasse /e.bo.ʃas/ | ébauchasses /e.bo.ʃas/ | ébauchât /e.bo.ʃa/ | ébauchassions /e.bo.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ | ébauchassiez /e.bo.ʃa.sje/ | ébauchassent /e.bo.ʃas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | ébauche /e.boʃ/ | — | ébauchons /e.bo.ʃɔ̃/ | ébauchez /e.bo.ʃe/ | — | |
| 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). | |||||||
Further reading
- “ébaucher”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.