retrouver

French

Etymology

From re- +‎ trouver.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.tʁu.ve/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

retrouver

1. (transitive) to find (again); to rediscover

   Ils ont retrouvé le trésor qu’ils avaient enterré.

   They re-found the treasure they had buried.

2. (transitive) to remember; to recall

   Je ne retrouve plus son nom.

   I no longer remember his name.

3. (transitive) to meet; to meet up; to bump into

   J’ai retrouvé mon ancien ami au bord du lac.

   I met up with my old friend by the lake.

4. (transitive) to go back to, to return to
5. (pronominal, reflexive) to find oneself; to end up

   Si tu continues à être aussi désagréable, tu vas te retrouver tout seul.

   If you keep being so unpleasant, you're going to end up alone.

6. (pronominal, reciprocal) to find each other
   • 2018, Zaz, Nos vies:

     On est l’homme qui se cherche et la femme qui se trouve. Dans le cœur, un amour qui fait qu’on se retrouve.

     We are the man who is looking for himself, and the woman who is finding herself. In our hearts, a love which means we find each other.

Conjugation

Conjugation of retrouver (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	retrouver
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	retrouvant /ʁə.tʁu.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		retrouvé /ʁə.tʁu.ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	retrouve /ʁə.tʁuv/	retrouves /ʁə.tʁuv/	retrouve /ʁə.tʁuv/	retrouvons /ʁə.tʁu.vɔ̃/	retrouvez /ʁə.tʁu.ve/	retrouvent /ʁə.tʁuv/
	imperfect	retrouvais /ʁə.tʁu.vɛ/	retrouvais /ʁə.tʁu.vɛ/	retrouvait /ʁə.tʁu.vɛ/	retrouvions /ʁə.tʁu.vjɔ̃/	retrouviez /ʁə.tʁu.vje/	retrouvaient /ʁə.tʁu.vɛ/
	past historic2	retrouvai /ʁə.tʁu.ve/	retrouvas /ʁə.tʁu.va/	retrouva /ʁə.tʁu.va/	retrouvâmes /ʁə.tʁu.vam/	retrouvâtes /ʁə.tʁu.vat/	retrouvèrent /ʁə.tʁu.vɛʁ/
	future	retrouverai /ʁə.tʁu.vʁe/	retrouveras /ʁə.tʁu.vʁa/	retrouvera /ʁə.tʁu.vʁa/	retrouverons /ʁə.tʁu.vʁɔ̃/	retrouverez /ʁə.tʁu.vʁe/	retrouveront /ʁə.tʁu.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	retrouverais /ʁə.tʁu.vʁɛ/	retrouverais /ʁə.tʁu.vʁɛ/	retrouverait /ʁə.tʁu.vʁɛ/	retrouverions /ʁə.tʁu.və.ʁjɔ̃/	retrouveriez /ʁə.tʁu.və.ʁje/	retrouveraient /ʁə.tʁu.vʁɛ/
(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	retrouve /ʁə.tʁuv/	retrouves /ʁə.tʁuv/	retrouve /ʁə.tʁuv/	retrouvions /ʁə.tʁu.vjɔ̃/	retrouviez /ʁə.tʁu.vje/	retrouvent /ʁə.tʁuv/
	imperfect2	retrouvasse /ʁə.tʁu.vas/	retrouvasses /ʁə.tʁu.vas/	retrouvât /ʁə.tʁu.va/	retrouvassions /ʁə.tʁu.va.sjɔ̃/	retrouvassiez /ʁə.tʁu.va.sje/	retrouvassent /ʁə.tʁu.vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	retrouve /ʁə.tʁuv/	—	retrouvons /ʁə.tʁu.vɔ̃/	retrouvez /ʁə.tʁu.ve/	—
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

• retrouvailles
• un de perdu, dix de retrouvés
• une de perdue, dix de retrouvées

 

Further reading

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