bouffer
French
Etymology
Old French bouffer, originally "to puff up," from Medieval Latin buffa, itself echoic of puffing out cheeks.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bu.fe/
(file) Audio (file)
Verb
bouffer
- (colloquial, transitive, intransitive) to eat
- Synonyms: manger, becter
- J'ai la dalle, j'ai pas encore bouffé. ― I'm famished, I haven't eaten yet.
- (colloquial, transitive, figuratively) to eat, to worry
- Synonym: ronger
- Tous ces problèmes avec ma femme, ça me bouffe. ― All these problems with my wife are eating away at me
- (colloquial, transitive) to consume in excess
- Cette bagnole bouffe quinze litres aux cent facilement. ― This car gobbles fifteen liters per hundred (kilometres) easily.
- (colloquial, transitive) to bash (criticise harshly)
- Ce soir, on va bouffer du curé. ― Tonight, we will chew up the priest.
Conjugation
Conjugation of bouffer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | bouffer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | bouffant /bu.fɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | bouffé /bu.fe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | bouffe /buf/ | bouffes /buf/ | bouffe /buf/ | bouffons /bu.fɔ̃/ | bouffez /bu.fe/ | bouffent /buf/ |
| imperfect | bouffais /bu.fɛ/ | bouffais /bu.fɛ/ | bouffait /bu.fɛ/ | bouffions /bu.fjɔ̃/ | bouffiez /bu.fje/ | bouffaient /bu.fɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | bouffai /bu.fe/ | bouffas /bu.fa/ | bouffa /bu.fa/ | bouffâmes /bu.fam/ | bouffâtes /bu.fat/ | bouffèrent /bu.fɛʁ/ | |
| future | boufferai /bu.fʁe/ | boufferas /bu.fʁa/ | bouffera /bu.fʁa/ | boufferons /bu.fʁɔ̃/ | boufferez /bu.fʁe/ | boufferont /bu.fʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | boufferais /bu.fʁɛ/ | boufferais /bu.fʁɛ/ | boufferait /bu.fʁɛ/ | boufferions /bu.fə.ʁjɔ̃/ | boufferiez /bu.fə.ʁje/ | boufferaient /bu.fʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | bouffe /buf/ | bouffes /buf/ | bouffe /buf/ | bouffions /bu.fjɔ̃/ | bouffiez /bu.fje/ | bouffent /buf/ |
| imperfect2 | bouffasse /bu.fas/ | bouffasses /bu.fas/ | bouffât /bu.fa/ | bouffassions /bu.fa.sjɔ̃/ | bouffassiez /bu.fa.sje/ | bouffassent /bu.fas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | bouffe /buf/ | — | bouffons /bu.fɔ̃/ | bouffez /bu.fe/ | — | |
| 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
- bouffer les pissenlits par la racine
Further reading
- “bouffer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.