rafler

French

Etymology

From Frankish *raffolōn, from Proto-Germanic *hrapōną, *hrēpōną (“to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreb(ʰ)-, *(s)kerb(ʰ)- (“to turn, bend, shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”) – related to Middle Dutch raffel (“dice game”), German raffen (“to snatch away, sweep off”), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat, attack”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.fle/ ~ /ʁɑ.fle/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

rafler

1. (informal) to swipe, nick, run off with (steal)
2. (informal, of a prize) to scoop

Conjugation

Conjugation of rafler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rafler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	raflant /ʁa.flɑ̃/ or /ʁɑ.flɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		raflé /ʁa.fle/ or /ʁɑ.fle/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	rafle /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/	rafles /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/	rafle /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/	raflons /ʁa.flɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.flɔ̃/	raflez /ʁa.fle/ or /ʁɑ.fle/	raflent /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/
	imperfect	raflais /ʁa.flɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flɛ/	raflais /ʁa.flɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flɛ/	raflait /ʁa.flɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flɛ/	raflions /ʁa.fli.jɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.fli.jɔ̃/	rafliez /ʁa.fli.je/ or /ʁɑ.fli.je/	raflaient /ʁa.flɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flɛ/
	past historic2	raflai /ʁa.fle/ or /ʁɑ.fle/	raflas /ʁa.fla/ or /ʁɑ.fla/	rafla /ʁa.fla/ or /ʁɑ.fla/	raflâmes /ʁa.flam/ or /ʁɑ.flam/	raflâtes /ʁa.flat/ or /ʁɑ.flat/	raflèrent /ʁa.flɛʁ/ or /ʁɑ.flɛʁ/
	future	raflerai /ʁa.flə.ʁe/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁe/	rafleras /ʁa.flə.ʁa/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁa/	raflera /ʁa.flə.ʁa/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁa/	raflerons /ʁa.flə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁɔ̃/	raflerez /ʁa.flə.ʁe/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁe/	rafleront /ʁa.flə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	raflerais /ʁa.flə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁɛ/	raflerais /ʁa.flə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁɛ/	raflerait /ʁa.flə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁɛ/	raflerions /ʁa.flə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁjɔ̃/	rafleriez /ʁa.flə.ʁje/ or /ʁɑ.flə.ʁje/	rafleraient /ʁa.flə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁɑ.flə.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	rafle /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/	rafles /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/	rafle /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/	raflions /ʁa.fli.jɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.fli.jɔ̃/	rafliez /ʁa.fli.je/ or /ʁɑ.fli.je/	raflent /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/
	imperfect2	raflasse /ʁa.flas/ or /ʁɑ.flas/	raflasses /ʁa.flas/ or /ʁɑ.flas/	raflât /ʁa.fla/ or /ʁɑ.fla/	raflassions /ʁa.fla.sjɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.fla.sjɔ̃/	raflassiez /ʁa.fla.sje/ or /ʁɑ.fla.sje/	raflassent /ʁa.flas/ or /ʁɑ.flas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	rafle /ʁafl/ or /ʁɑfl/	—	raflons /ʁa.flɔ̃/ or /ʁɑ.flɔ̃/	raflez /ʁa.fle/ or /ʁɑ.fle/	—
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).

Further reading

• “rafler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.