arracher

French

Etymology

By prefix substitution from Old French esrachier (see also the form arachier), from Latin ērādīcāre. Doublet of éradiquer, which was borrowed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ʁa.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

arracher

1. to uproot, pull up, tear out
2. to extract, take out (a tooth)
3. to pull off, rip off, peel

   Il arrache les pattes du moustique.

   He's ripping off the mosquito's legs.

4. to buy, snap up

   On l’a arraché pour 10.000 dollars.

   They snapped it up for 10,000 dollars.

5. (pronominal) to fight over (something)
6. (pronominal) to scram; to get out
7. (pronominal, transitive, often followed by à) to tear away; to tear apart
   • 2024 July 26, Floriane Reynaud, “Cette histoire d'amour tragique qui a inspiré L’Hymne à l’amour d’Édith Piaf”, in vogue.fr‎^[1]:

     Plus tard, lorsqu’Edith Piaf enregistre la chanson en studio, elle conserve symboliquement les paroles « si un jour la vie t’arrache à moi […]

     Later, when Edith Piaf recorded the song in the studio, she symbolically kept the lyrics "if one day life tears you away from me […]

Conjugation

Conjugation of arracher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	arracher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	arrachant /a.ʁa.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		arraché /a.ʁa.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	arrache /a.ʁaʃ/	arraches /a.ʁaʃ/	arrache /a.ʁaʃ/	arrachons /a.ʁa.ʃɔ̃/	arrachez /a.ʁa.ʃe/	arrachent /a.ʁaʃ/
	imperfect	arrachais /a.ʁa.ʃɛ/	arrachais /a.ʁa.ʃɛ/	arrachait /a.ʁa.ʃɛ/	arrachions /a.ʁa.ʃjɔ̃/	arrachiez /a.ʁa.ʃje/	arrachaient /a.ʁa.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	arrachai /a.ʁa.ʃe/	arrachas /a.ʁa.ʃa/	arracha /a.ʁa.ʃa/	arrachâmes /a.ʁa.ʃam/	arrachâtes /a.ʁa.ʃat/	arrachèrent /a.ʁa.ʃɛʁ/
	future	arracherai /a.ʁaʃ.ʁe/	arracheras /a.ʁaʃ.ʁa/	arrachera /a.ʁaʃ.ʁa/	arracherons /a.ʁaʃ.ʁɔ̃/	arracherez /a.ʁaʃ.ʁe/	arracheront /a.ʁaʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	arracherais /a.ʁaʃ.ʁɛ/	arracherais /a.ʁaʃ.ʁɛ/	arracherait /a.ʁaʃ.ʁɛ/	arracherions /a.ʁa.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	arracheriez /a.ʁa.ʃə.ʁje/	arracheraient /a.ʁaʃ.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	arrache /a.ʁaʃ/	arraches /a.ʁaʃ/	arrache /a.ʁaʃ/	arrachions /a.ʁa.ʃjɔ̃/	arrachiez /a.ʁa.ʃje/	arrachent /a.ʁaʃ/
	imperfect2	arrachasse /a.ʁa.ʃas/	arrachasses /a.ʁa.ʃas/	arrachât /a.ʁa.ʃa/	arrachassions /a.ʁa.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	arrachassiez /a.ʁa.ʃa.sje/	arrachassent /a.ʁa.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	arrache /a.ʁaʃ/	—	arrachons /a.ʁa.ʃɔ̃/	arrachez /a.ʁa.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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• arrachable
• arracher la gueule
• arracher les mots de la bouche
• s’arracher les cheveux

Further reading

• “arracher”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “arracher” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “arracher” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.

Old French

Verb

arracher

1. Alternative form of arachier

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. In the present tense an extra supporting e is needed in the first-person singular indicative and throughout the singular subjunctive, and the third-person singular subjunctive ending -t is lost. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of arracher (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		arracher			avoir arraché
gerund		en arrachant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		arrachant
past participle		arraché
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	arrache	arraches	arrache	arrachons	arrachez	arrachent
	imperfect	arrachoie, arracheie, arrachoe, arracheve	arrachoies, arracheies, arrachoes, arracheves	arrachoit, arracheit, arrachot, arracheve	arrachiiens, arrachiens	arrachiiez, arrachiez	arrachoient, arracheient, arrachoent, arrachevent
	preterite	arrachai	arrachas	arracha	arrachames	arrachastes	arracherent
	future	arracherai	arracheras	arrachera	arracherons	arracheroiz, arrachereiz, arracherez	arracheront
	conditional	arracheroie, arrachereie	arracheroies, arrachereies	arracheroit, arrachereit	arracheriiens, arracheriens	arracheriiez, arracheriez	arracheroient, arrachereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	arrache	arraches	arrache	arrachons	arrachez	arrachent
	imperfect	arrachasse	arrachasses	arrachast	arrachissons, arrachissiens	arrachissoiz, arrachissez, arrachissiez	arrachassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	arrache	—	arrachons	arrachez	—