grouiller

French

Etymology

From Middle French grouiller (“to shake, stir, agitate, scold, hasten, swarm, teem, crawl”), from Old French grouiller (“to rumble”), alteration of Old French grouller (“to growl”), from Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise, rumble, growl, grunt, grumble, scold”), from Old Dutch *grullen, from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną, *graljaną (“to shout, make angry, provoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to rattle, make a noise, grumble”). Cognate with Middle High German grüllen (“to scorn, jeer”), Old English griellan (“to anger, provoke, vex”). More at grill.

Alternate etymology derives sense of crawl from Frankish *grubilōn (“to dig, burrow, rummage, crawl”), from Proto-Germanic *grubilōną (“to dig, search, ponder”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scrape, scratch”). Cognate with German grübeln (“to brood over, mull over, speculate, ponder”), Old Norse grúfla (“to bend low, creep, crawl”). More at crawl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁu.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

grouiller

1. (intransitive) to mill about, swarm with people
2. (intransitive) to swarm or crawl

   La place grouille de touristes. ― The square is crawling with tourists.

3. (reflexive, colloquial) to hurry; to get a move on

   Synonym: magner

   Grouille-toi, hein? ― Hurry up, will you?

Conjugation

Conjugation of grouiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	grouiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	grouillant /ɡʁu.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		grouillé /ɡʁu.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	grouille /ɡʁuj/	grouilles /ɡʁuj/	grouille /ɡʁuj/	grouillons /ɡʁu.jɔ̃/	grouillez /ɡʁu.je/	grouillent /ɡʁuj/
	imperfect	grouillais /ɡʁu.jɛ/	grouillais /ɡʁu.jɛ/	grouillait /ɡʁu.jɛ/	grouillions /ɡʁuj.jɔ̃/	grouilliez /ɡʁuj.je/	grouillaient /ɡʁu.jɛ/
	past historic2	grouillai /ɡʁu.je/	grouillas /ɡʁu.ja/	grouilla /ɡʁu.ja/	grouillâmes /ɡʁu.jam/	grouillâtes /ɡʁu.jat/	grouillèrent /ɡʁu.jɛʁ/
	future	grouillerai /ɡʁuj.ʁe/	grouilleras /ɡʁuj.ʁa/	grouillera /ɡʁuj.ʁa/	grouillerons /ɡʁuj.ʁɔ̃/	grouillerez /ɡʁuj.ʁe/	grouilleront /ɡʁuj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	grouillerais /ɡʁuj.ʁɛ/	grouillerais /ɡʁuj.ʁɛ/	grouillerait /ɡʁuj.ʁɛ/	grouillerions /ɡʁu.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	grouilleriez /ɡʁu.jə.ʁje/	grouilleraient /ɡʁuj.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	grouille /ɡʁuj/	grouilles /ɡʁuj/	grouille /ɡʁuj/	grouillions /ɡʁuj.jɔ̃/	grouilliez /ɡʁuj.je/	grouillent /ɡʁuj/
	imperfect2	grouillasse /ɡʁu.jas/	grouillasses /ɡʁu.jas/	grouillât /ɡʁu.ja/	grouillassions /ɡʁu.ja.sjɔ̃/	grouillassiez /ɡʁu.ja.sje/	grouillassent /ɡʁu.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	grouille /ɡʁuj/	—	grouillons /ɡʁu.jɔ̃/	grouillez /ɡʁu.je/	—
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).

Conjugation of se grouiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se grouiller
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se grouillant /sə ɡʁu.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		grouillé /ɡʁu.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me grouille /mə ɡʁuj/	te grouilles /tə ɡʁuj/	se grouille /sə ɡʁuj/	nous grouillons /nu ɡʁu.jɔ̃/	vous grouillez /vu ɡʁu.je/	se grouillent /sə ɡʁuj/
	imperfect	me grouillais /mə ɡʁu.jɛ/	te grouillais /tə ɡʁu.jɛ/	se grouillait /sə ɡʁu.jɛ/	nous grouillions /nu ɡʁuj.jɔ̃/	vous grouilliez /vu ɡʁuj.je/	se grouillaient /sə ɡʁu.jɛ/
	past historic2	me grouillai /mə ɡʁu.je/	te grouillas /tə ɡʁu.ja/	se grouilla /sə ɡʁu.ja/	nous grouillâmes /nu ɡʁu.jam/	vous grouillâtes /vu ɡʁu.jat/	se grouillèrent /sə ɡʁu.jɛʁ/
	future	me grouillerai /mə ɡʁuj.ʁe/	te grouilleras /tə ɡʁuj.ʁa/	se grouillera /sə ɡʁuj.ʁa/	nous grouillerons /nu ɡʁuj.ʁɔ̃/	vous grouillerez /vu ɡʁuj.ʁe/	se grouilleront /sə ɡʁuj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me grouillerais /mə ɡʁuj.ʁɛ/	te grouillerais /tə ɡʁuj.ʁɛ/	se grouillerait /sə ɡʁuj.ʁɛ/	nous grouillerions /nu ɡʁu.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous grouilleriez /vu ɡʁu.jə.ʁje/	se grouilleraient /sə ɡʁuj.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me grouille /mə ɡʁuj/	te grouilles /tə ɡʁuj/	se grouille /sə ɡʁuj/	nous grouillions /nu ɡʁuj.jɔ̃/	vous grouilliez /vu ɡʁuj.je/	se grouillent /sə ɡʁuj/
	imperfect2	me grouillasse /mə ɡʁu.jas/	te grouillasses /tə ɡʁu.jas/	se grouillât /sə ɡʁu.ja/	nous grouillassions /nu ɡʁu.ja.sjɔ̃/	vous grouillassiez /vu ɡʁu.ja.sje/	se grouillassent /sə ɡʁu.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	grouille-toi /ɡʁuj.twa/	—	grouillons-nous /ɡʁu.jɔ̃.nu/	grouillez-vous /ɡʁu.je.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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

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