branler

French

Etymology

Inherited 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”). Compare brandish.

The supposed intermediary form, Late Latin *brandulare, also from Proto-West Germanic *brand (“sword”), is unlikely given that the suffix -ulāre had already fallen into disuse (i.e. was no longer productive) at the time of borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɑ̃.le/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Canada):

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Verb

branler

1. (transitive) to shake
2. (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.

3. (transitive, vulgar, slang) to do

   Synonyms: foutre, glander, fabriquer

   Qu’est-ce que tu branles ?

   What the fuck are you up to?

4. (transitive, vulgar, slang) to masturbate (another person)

   Il m’a branlé, puis j’ai joui.

   He wanked me off, then I came.

5. (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		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
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: 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

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.