rebrousser

French

Etymology

A metathesis of Middle French rebourser, from rebours.

Pronunciation

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Verb

rebrousser

1. to brush over

Conjugation

Conjugation of rebrousser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rebrousser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	rebroussant /ʁə.bʁu.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		rebroussé /ʁə.bʁu.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	rebrousse /ʁə.bʁus/	rebrousses /ʁə.bʁus/	rebrousse /ʁə.bʁus/	rebroussons /ʁə.bʁu.sɔ̃/	rebroussez /ʁə.bʁu.se/	rebroussent /ʁə.bʁus/
	imperfect	rebroussais /ʁə.bʁu.sɛ/	rebroussais /ʁə.bʁu.sɛ/	rebroussait /ʁə.bʁu.sɛ/	rebroussions /ʁə.bʁu.sjɔ̃/	rebroussiez /ʁə.bʁu.sje/	rebroussaient /ʁə.bʁu.sɛ/
	past historic2	rebroussai /ʁə.bʁu.se/	rebroussas /ʁə.bʁu.sa/	rebroussa /ʁə.bʁu.sa/	rebroussâmes /ʁə.bʁu.sam/	rebroussâtes /ʁə.bʁu.sat/	rebroussèrent /ʁə.bʁu.sɛʁ/
	future	rebrousserai /ʁə.bʁu.sʁe/	rebrousseras /ʁə.bʁu.sʁa/	rebroussera /ʁə.bʁu.sʁa/	rebrousserons /ʁə.bʁu.sʁɔ̃/	rebrousserez /ʁə.bʁu.sʁe/	rebrousseront /ʁə.bʁu.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	rebrousserais /ʁə.bʁu.sʁɛ/	rebrousserais /ʁə.bʁu.sʁɛ/	rebrousserait /ʁə.bʁu.sʁɛ/	rebrousserions /ʁə.bʁu.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	rebrousseriez /ʁə.bʁu.sə.ʁje/	rebrousseraient /ʁə.bʁu.sʁɛ/
(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	rebrousse /ʁə.bʁus/	rebrousses /ʁə.bʁus/	rebrousse /ʁə.bʁus/	rebroussions /ʁə.bʁu.sjɔ̃/	rebroussiez /ʁə.bʁu.sje/	rebroussent /ʁə.bʁus/
	imperfect2	rebroussasse /ʁə.bʁu.sas/	rebroussasses /ʁə.bʁu.sas/	rebroussât /ʁə.bʁu.sa/	rebroussassions /ʁə.bʁu.sa.sjɔ̃/	rebroussassiez /ʁə.bʁu.sa.sje/	rebroussassent /ʁə.bʁu.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	rebrousse /ʁə.bʁus/	—	rebroussons /ʁə.bʁu.sɔ̃/	rebroussez /ʁə.bʁu.se/	—
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

• rebrousser chemin
• à rebrousse-poil

Further reading

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