branler
French
Etymology
From Middle French bransler, from Old French bransler (“to shake (a sword at), move”), a contracted form of brandeler (“to wobble”), from Vulgar Latin *brandus (“firebrand, flaming sword, sword”), ultimately from Frankish *brand (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“burning, flash, firebrand, flaming sword”).
The supposed intermediary form, Late Latin *brandulare, also from Proto-West Germanic *brand (“sword”), is unlikely given that the suffix -ulare had already fallen into disuse (i.e. was no longer productive) at the time of borrowing.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bʁɑ̃.le/
Audio (file) Audio (CAN) (file)
Verb
branler
- (transitive) to shake
- (transitive, vulgar) to touch (some work)
- Comme il n'a rien branlé, il reste encore la moitié du boulot à faire.
- Since he hasn't touched anything, there's still half the work left to do.
- (transitive, vulgar, slang) to do
- Qu'est-ce que tu branles ?
- What the fuck are you up to?
- Synonyms: foutre, glander, fabriquer
- (transitive, vulgar, slang) to masturbate (another person)
- Il m'a branlé, puis j'ai joui.
- He wanked me off, then I came.
- (reflexive, vulgar, se branler) to masturbate
- Samedi je vais me branler toute la journée.
- On Saturday I’m gonna jerk it all day.
Conjugation
Conjugation of branler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | branler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | branlant /bʁɑ̃.lɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | branlé /bʁɑ̃.le/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | branle /bʁɑ̃l/ | branles /bʁɑ̃l/ | branle /bʁɑ̃l/ | branlons /bʁɑ̃.lɔ̃/ | branlez /bʁɑ̃.le/ | branlent /bʁɑ̃l/ |
| imperfect | branlais /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/ | branlais /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/ | branlait /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/ | branlions /bʁɑ̃.ljɔ̃/ | branliez /bʁɑ̃.lje/ | branlaient /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | branlai /bʁɑ̃.le/ | branlas /bʁɑ̃.la/ | branla /bʁɑ̃.la/ | branlâmes /bʁɑ̃.lam/ | branlâtes /bʁɑ̃.lat/ | branlèrent /bʁɑ̃.lɛʁ/ | |
| future | branlerai /bʁɑ̃l.ʁe/ | branleras /bʁɑ̃l.ʁa/ | branlera /bʁɑ̃l.ʁa/ | branlerons /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɔ̃/ | branlerez /bʁɑ̃l.ʁe/ | branleront /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | branlerais /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/ | branlerais /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/ | branlerait /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/ | branlerions /bʁɑ̃.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ | branleriez /bʁɑ̃.lə.ʁje/ | branleraient /bʁɑ̃l.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 | branle /bʁɑ̃l/ | branles /bʁɑ̃l/ | branle /bʁɑ̃l/ | branlions /bʁɑ̃.ljɔ̃/ | branliez /bʁɑ̃.lje/ | branlent /bʁɑ̃l/ |
| imperfect2 | branlasse /bʁɑ̃.las/ | branlasses /bʁɑ̃.las/ | branlât /bʁɑ̃.la/ | branlassions /bʁɑ̃.la.sjɔ̃/ | branlassiez /bʁɑ̃.la.sje/ | branlassent /bʁɑ̃.las/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | branle /bʁɑ̃l/ | — | branlons /bʁɑ̃.lɔ̃/ | branlez /bʁɑ̃.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). | |||||||
Derived terms
Derived terms
- branlage
- branle
- branlement
- branlette
- branleur
- ne pas en branler une
- rien à branler
- se branler comme de l'an quarante de
Further reading
- “branler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “branler” in Dictionnaire Français en ligne Larousse.
- “branler” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.