approcher

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French aprochier, from Late Latin appropiāre, a verb based on Latin prope (“near”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.pʁɔ.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

  (s'approcher)

Verb

approcher

1. to approach, to come close to, to move towards

   Pourquoi es-tu si loin? Approche.

   Why are you so far away? Come closer.

Conjugation

Conjugation of approcher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	approcher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	approchant /a.pʁɔ.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		approché /a.pʁɔ.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	approche /a.pʁɔʃ/	approches /a.pʁɔʃ/	approche /a.pʁɔʃ/	approchons /a.pʁɔ.ʃɔ̃/	approchez /a.pʁɔ.ʃe/	approchent /a.pʁɔʃ/
	imperfect	approchais /a.pʁɔ.ʃɛ/	approchais /a.pʁɔ.ʃɛ/	approchait /a.pʁɔ.ʃɛ/	approchions /a.pʁɔ.ʃjɔ̃/	approchiez /a.pʁɔ.ʃje/	approchaient /a.pʁɔ.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	approchai /a.pʁɔ.ʃe/	approchas /a.pʁɔ.ʃa/	approcha /a.pʁɔ.ʃa/	approchâmes /a.pʁɔ.ʃam/	approchâtes /a.pʁɔ.ʃat/	approchèrent /a.pʁɔ.ʃɛʁ/
	future	approcherai /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁe/	approcheras /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁa/	approchera /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁa/	approcherons /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁɔ̃/	approcherez /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁe/	approcheront /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	approcherais /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁɛ/	approcherais /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁɛ/	approcherait /a.pʁɔʃ.ʁɛ/	approcherions /a.pʁɔ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	approcheriez /a.pʁɔ.ʃə.ʁje/	approcheraient /a.pʁɔʃ.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	approche /a.pʁɔʃ/	approches /a.pʁɔʃ/	approche /a.pʁɔʃ/	approchions /a.pʁɔ.ʃjɔ̃/	approchiez /a.pʁɔ.ʃje/	approchent /a.pʁɔʃ/
	imperfect2	approchasse /a.pʁɔ.ʃas/	approchasses /a.pʁɔ.ʃas/	approchât /a.pʁɔ.ʃa/	approchassions /a.pʁɔ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	approchassiez /a.pʁɔ.ʃa.sje/	approchassent /a.pʁɔ.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	approche /a.pʁɔʃ/	—	approchons /a.pʁɔ.ʃɔ̃/	approchez /a.pʁɔ.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).

Related terms

• proche
• rapprocher

Descendants

• → Italian: approcciare

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• rapproche, rapproché