écouler
French
Etymology
é- + couler, or possibly from Vulgar Latin *excolāre, from Latin cōlāre, present active infinitive of cōlō. Compare Italian scolare, Portuguese escoar, Spanish escolar, Sicilian sculari.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.ku.le/
Audio (file)
Verb
écouler
- to sell off, to shift
- (reflexive) to flow
- (reflexive, of time) to pass, to elapse
- (reflexive, of one's fortune) to diminish, to dwindle away slowly
Conjugation
Conjugation of écouler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | écouler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | écoulant /e.ku.lɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | écoulé /e.ku.le/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | écoule /e.kul/ | écoules /e.kul/ | écoule /e.kul/ | écoulons /e.ku.lɔ̃/ | écoulez /e.ku.le/ | écoulent /e.kul/ |
| imperfect | écoulais /e.ku.lɛ/ | écoulais /e.ku.lɛ/ | écoulait /e.ku.lɛ/ | écoulions /e.ku.ljɔ̃/ | écouliez /e.ku.lje/ | écoulaient /e.ku.lɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | écoulai /e.ku.le/ | écoulas /e.ku.la/ | écoula /e.ku.la/ | écoulâmes /e.ku.lam/ | écoulâtes /e.ku.lat/ | écoulèrent /e.ku.lɛʁ/ | |
| future | écoulerai /e.kul.ʁe/ | écouleras /e.kul.ʁa/ | écoulera /e.kul.ʁa/ | écoulerons /e.kul.ʁɔ̃/ | écoulerez /e.kul.ʁe/ | écouleront /e.kul.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | écoulerais /e.kul.ʁɛ/ | écoulerais /e.kul.ʁɛ/ | écoulerait /e.kul.ʁɛ/ | écoulerions /e.ku.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ | écouleriez /e.ku.lə.ʁje/ | écouleraient /e.kul.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 | écoule /e.kul/ | écoules /e.kul/ | écoule /e.kul/ | écoulions /e.ku.ljɔ̃/ | écouliez /e.ku.lje/ | écoulent /e.kul/ |
| imperfect2 | écoulasse /e.ku.las/ | écoulasses /e.ku.las/ | écoulât /e.ku.la/ | écoulassions /e.ku.la.sjɔ̃/ | écoulassiez /e.ku.la.sje/ | écoulassent /e.ku.las/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | écoule /e.kul/ | — | écoulons /e.ku.lɔ̃/ | écoulez /e.ku.le/ | — | |
| 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). | |||||||
Related terms
- écoulement
Further reading
- “écouler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “écouler” in Dictionnaire Français en ligne Larousse.
- “écouler” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.
Anagrams
- écroule, écroulé