fourcher
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fuʁ.ʃe/
Audio: (file)
Verb
fourcher
- (intransitive) to fork
- (intransitive, figurative) to make a slip of the tongue
- la langue a fourché ― the tongue slipped
- 2025 June, Benoît Bréville, “Tous influenceurs !”, in Le Monde diplomatique, →ISSN, page 21:
- Montage, tournage, retournage parce que le son n'était pas bon ou parce que la langue a fourché, recherche d'images, quête de la formule choc…
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Conjugation
Conjugation of fourcher (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | fourcher | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | fourchant /fuʁ.ʃɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | fourché /fuʁ.ʃe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | fourche /fuʁʃ/ |
fourches /fuʁʃ/ |
fourche /fuʁʃ/ |
fourchons /fuʁ.ʃɔ̃/ |
fourchez /fuʁ.ʃe/ |
fourchent /fuʁʃ/ |
| imperfect | fourchais /fuʁ.ʃɛ/ |
fourchais /fuʁ.ʃɛ/ |
fourchait /fuʁ.ʃɛ/ |
fourchions /fuʁ.ʃjɔ̃/ |
fourchiez /fuʁ.ʃje/ |
fourchaient /fuʁ.ʃɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | fourchai /fuʁ.ʃe/ |
fourchas /fuʁ.ʃa/ |
fourcha /fuʁ.ʃa/ |
fourchâmes /fuʁ.ʃam/ |
fourchâtes /fuʁ.ʃat/ |
fourchèrent /fuʁ.ʃɛʁ/ | |
| future | fourcherai /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁe/ |
fourcheras /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁa/ |
fourchera /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁa/ |
fourcherons /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁɔ̃/ |
fourcherez /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁe/ |
fourcheront /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | fourcherais /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/ |
fourcherais /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/ |
fourcherait /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/ |
fourcherions /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
fourcheriez /fuʁ.ʃə.ʁje/ |
fourcheraient /fuʁ.ʃə.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 | fourche /fuʁʃ/ |
fourches /fuʁʃ/ |
fourche /fuʁʃ/ |
fourchions /fuʁ.ʃjɔ̃/ |
fourchiez /fuʁ.ʃje/ |
fourchent /fuʁʃ/ |
| imperfect2 | fourchasse /fuʁ.ʃas/ |
fourchasses /fuʁ.ʃas/ |
fourchât /fuʁ.ʃa/ |
fourchassions /fuʁ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ |
fourchassiez /fuʁ.ʃa.sje/ |
fourchassent /fuʁ.ʃas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | fourche /fuʁʃ/ |
— | fourchons /fuʁ.ʃɔ̃/ |
fourchez /fuʁ.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
- “fourcher”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.