rechercher

French

Etymology

Since Middle French, from Old French recerchier, from re- + cerchier (“to look for”). Compare English research and recherche.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe/

• audio

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Verb

rechercher

1. to search for, seek, to look for
2. to search again, to look for again

Conjugation

Conjugation of rechercher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rechercher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	recherchant /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		recherché /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	recherche /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/	recherches /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/	recherche /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/	recherchons /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɔ̃/	recherchez /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe/	recherchent /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/
	imperfect	recherchais /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/	recherchais /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/	recherchait /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/	recherchions /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃjɔ̃/	recherchiez /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃje/	recherchaient /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	recherchai /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe/	recherchas /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃa/	rechercha /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃa/	recherchâmes /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃam/	recherchâtes /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃat/	recherchèrent /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɛʁ/
	future	rechercherai /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁe/	rechercheras /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁa/	recherchera /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁa/	rechercherons /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɔ̃/	rechercherez /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁe/	rechercheront /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	rechercherais /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/	rechercherais /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/	rechercherait /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/	rechercherions /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	rechercheriez /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁje/	rechercheraient /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃə.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	recherche /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/	recherches /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/	recherche /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/	recherchions /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃjɔ̃/	recherchiez /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃje/	recherchent /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/
	imperfect2	recherchasse /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃas/	recherchasses /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃas/	recherchât /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃa/	recherchassions /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	recherchassiez /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃa.sje/	recherchassent /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	recherche /ʁə.ʃɛʁʃ/	—	recherchons /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɔ̃/	recherchez /ʁə.ʃɛʁ.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

• chercher
• recherche

Further reading

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