boucler

French

Etymology

14th century, from boucle

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bu.kle/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

boucler

1. (transitive) to buckle (to fasten)
2. (transitive) to curl (make curly)
3. (transitive, figurative) to tie up (close, finish (e.g. an affair or case))
4. (transitive, colloquial) to shut
   • 1965, Charles Aznavour (lyrics and music), “Je te réchaufferai [I Will Warm You Up]”:

     Je fermerai fenêtres et persiennes / Je bouclerai la porte à double tour / Et en faisant une flambée, Hélène / Je te réchaufferai, je te réchaufferai

     I will close windows and shutters / I will shut the door with two turns of the key / And by making a fire, Helen / I will warm you up, I will warm you up

5. (intransitive) to curl up (become curly)

Conjugation

Conjugation of boucler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	boucler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	bouclant /bu.klɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		bouclé /bu.kle/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	boucle /bukl/	boucles /bukl/	boucle /bukl/	bouclons /bu.klɔ̃/	bouclez /bu.kle/	bouclent /bukl/
	imperfect	bouclais /bu.klɛ/	bouclais /bu.klɛ/	bouclait /bu.klɛ/	bouclions /bu.kli.jɔ̃/	boucliez /bu.kli.je/	bouclaient /bu.klɛ/
	past historic2	bouclai /bu.kle/	bouclas /bu.kla/	boucla /bu.kla/	bouclâmes /bu.klam/	bouclâtes /bu.klat/	bouclèrent /bu.klɛʁ/
	future	bouclerai /bu.klə.ʁe/	boucleras /bu.klə.ʁa/	bouclera /bu.klə.ʁa/	bouclerons /bu.klə.ʁɔ̃/	bouclerez /bu.klə.ʁe/	boucleront /bu.klə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	bouclerais /bu.klə.ʁɛ/	bouclerais /bu.klə.ʁɛ/	bouclerait /bu.klə.ʁɛ/	bouclerions /bu.klə.ʁjɔ̃/	boucleriez /bu.klə.ʁje/	boucleraient /bu.klə.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	boucle /bukl/	boucles /bukl/	boucle /bukl/	bouclions /bu.kli.jɔ̃/	boucliez /bu.kli.je/	bouclent /bukl/
	imperfect2	bouclasse /bu.klas/	bouclasses /bu.klas/	bouclât /bu.kla/	bouclassions /bu.kla.sjɔ̃/	bouclassiez /bu.kla.sje/	bouclassent /bu.klas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	boucle /bukl/	—	bouclons /bu.klɔ̃/	bouclez /bu.kle/	—
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

• bouclage
• boucler la boucle
• la boucler

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• corbleu