brûler
See also: bruler
French
Alternative forms
- bruler (post-1990 spelling)
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French brusler, from Old French brusler, bruller (“to burn”), probably an enhanced form of usler (“to scorch”), from Latin ustulāre. Cognate with dialectal Italian brustolare. The initial br- may be compared to Italian bruciare, but the further origin is uncertain. One or more of the following may have contributed: (1) Old French bruir (“to burn”), from Frankish *brōjan (“to scald, sear”); (2) Latin ambūrere, combūrere (“to burn”) and their participles ambustus, combustus; (3) a Gaulish cognate of Old Irish bruth (“boiling heat”). The words in 1 and 3 are from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bʁy.le/
Audio: (file)
Verb
brûler
- (ambitransitive) to burn
- La maison des voisins a brûlé. ― The neighbors' house has burnt down.
- Ils sont en train de brûler un tas de feuilles mortes. ― They are burning a heap of dead leaves.
- (reflexive) to burn oneself
- Je me suis brûlé avec une ampoule.
- I burnt myself on a light bulb.
- (transitive) to pass an obstacle, to blow (through or past), to run
- 2022 February 26, Stéphanie Chayet, “Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida… Aux origines françaises du « wokisme »”, in Le Monde[1]:
- New York, novembre 1975. La plus grande ville américaine vient d’échapper de justesse à la faillite. Les taxis de nuit brûlent les feux rouges pour éviter les braquages, les poubelles s’entassent, la classe moyenne a pris le large.
- New York, November 1975. America's biggest city has just narrowly escaped bankruptcy. At night, taxis run red lights to avoid being robbed. Trash is piling up, and the middle classes have headed for the hills.
- (informal) to be boiling, to be very close to the answer
Conjugation
Conjugation of brûler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | brûler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | brûlant /bʁy.lɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | brûlé /bʁy.le/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | brûle /bʁyl/ |
brûles /bʁyl/ |
brûle /bʁyl/ |
brûlons /bʁy.lɔ̃/ |
brûlez /bʁy.le/ |
brûlent /bʁyl/ |
| imperfect | brûlais /bʁy.lɛ/ |
brûlais /bʁy.lɛ/ |
brûlait /bʁy.lɛ/ |
brûlions /bʁy.ljɔ̃/ |
brûliez /bʁy.lje/ |
brûlaient /bʁy.lɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | brûlai /bʁy.le/ |
brûlas /bʁy.la/ |
brûla /bʁy.la/ |
brûlâmes /bʁy.lam/ |
brûlâtes /bʁy.lat/ |
brûlèrent /bʁy.lɛʁ/ | |
| future | brûlerai /bʁyl.ʁe/ |
brûleras /bʁyl.ʁa/ |
brûlera /bʁyl.ʁa/ |
brûlerons /bʁyl.ʁɔ̃/ |
brûlerez /bʁyl.ʁe/ |
brûleront /bʁyl.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | brûlerais /bʁyl.ʁɛ/ |
brûlerais /bʁyl.ʁɛ/ |
brûlerait /bʁyl.ʁɛ/ |
brûlerions /bʁy.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
brûleriez /bʁy.lə.ʁje/ |
brûleraient /bʁyl.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 | brûle /bʁyl/ |
brûles /bʁyl/ |
brûle /bʁyl/ |
brûlions /bʁy.ljɔ̃/ |
brûliez /bʁy.lje/ |
brûlent /bʁyl/ |
| imperfect2 | brûlasse /bʁy.las/ |
brûlasses /bʁy.las/ |
brûlât /bʁy.la/ |
brûlassions /bʁy.la.sjɔ̃/ |
brûlassiez /bʁy.la.sje/ |
brûlassent /bʁy.las/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | brûle /bʁyl/ |
— | brûlons /bʁy.lɔ̃/ |
brûlez /bʁy.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). | |||||||
Synonyms
- ardre (archaic)
Derived terms
Descendants
Further reading
- “brûler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “brûler” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
- “brûler” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.
Norman
Alternative forms
- brulaïr (Guernsey)
Etymology
From Old French brusler (“to burn”).
Verb
brûler (gerund brûl'lie)