circuler

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin circulāre, post-Augustan form of circulor. Compare cercler, possibly an inherited doublet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siʁ.ky.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

circuler

1. (intransitive) to circulate
2. (intransitive) to go by, to get around

Conjugation

Conjugation of circuler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	circuler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	circulant /siʁ.ky.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		circulé /siʁ.ky.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	circule /siʁ.kyl/	circules /siʁ.kyl/	circule /siʁ.kyl/	circulons /siʁ.ky.lɔ̃/	circulez /siʁ.ky.le/	circulent /siʁ.kyl/
	imperfect	circulais /siʁ.ky.lɛ/	circulais /siʁ.ky.lɛ/	circulait /siʁ.ky.lɛ/	circulions /siʁ.ky.ljɔ̃/	circuliez /siʁ.ky.lje/	circulaient /siʁ.ky.lɛ/
	past historic2	circulai /siʁ.ky.le/	circulas /siʁ.ky.la/	circula /siʁ.ky.la/	circulâmes /siʁ.ky.lam/	circulâtes /siʁ.ky.lat/	circulèrent /siʁ.ky.lɛʁ/
	future	circulerai /siʁ.kyl.ʁe/	circuleras /siʁ.kyl.ʁa/	circulera /siʁ.kyl.ʁa/	circulerons /siʁ.kyl.ʁɔ̃/	circulerez /siʁ.kyl.ʁe/	circuleront /siʁ.kyl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	circulerais /siʁ.kyl.ʁɛ/	circulerais /siʁ.kyl.ʁɛ/	circulerait /siʁ.kyl.ʁɛ/	circulerions /siʁ.ky.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	circuleriez /siʁ.ky.lə.ʁje/	circuleraient /siʁ.kyl.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	circule /siʁ.kyl/	circules /siʁ.kyl/	circule /siʁ.kyl/	circulions /siʁ.ky.ljɔ̃/	circuliez /siʁ.ky.lje/	circulent /siʁ.kyl/
	imperfect2	circulasse /siʁ.ky.las/	circulasses /siʁ.ky.las/	circulât /siʁ.ky.la/	circulassions /siʁ.ky.la.sjɔ̃/	circulassiez /siʁ.ky.la.sje/	circulassent /siʁ.ky.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	circule /siʁ.kyl/	—	circulons /siʁ.ky.lɔ̃/	circulez /siʁ.ky.le/	—
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

• cercle
• circulaire

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

circuler

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of circulō