trébucher

See also: trebucher

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French trebucher, from Old French trebuchier (“to overthrow, topple”), from tres- + *buchier, from Old French buc (“trunk of the body”), from Old Frankish *būk (“belly, trunk, torso”), from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, abdomen, trunk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to blow, swell”). Cognate with Old High German būh (“belly”), Old English būc (“belly, trunk”). More at bouk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁe.by.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

trébucher

1. (intransitive) to trip, to stumble [with sur ‘on something’]

   perdre l’équilibre et trébucher ― to lose balance and trip

Conjugation

Conjugation of trébucher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	trébucher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	trébuchant /tʁe.by.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		trébuché /tʁe.by.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	trébuche /tʁe.byʃ/	trébuches /tʁe.byʃ/	trébuche /tʁe.byʃ/	trébuchons /tʁe.by.ʃɔ̃/	trébuchez /tʁe.by.ʃe/	trébuchent /tʁe.byʃ/
	imperfect	trébuchais /tʁe.by.ʃɛ/	trébuchais /tʁe.by.ʃɛ/	trébuchait /tʁe.by.ʃɛ/	trébuchions /tʁe.by.ʃjɔ̃/	trébuchiez /tʁe.by.ʃje/	trébuchaient /tʁe.by.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	trébuchai /tʁe.by.ʃe/	trébuchas /tʁe.by.ʃa/	trébucha /tʁe.by.ʃa/	trébuchâmes /tʁe.by.ʃam/	trébuchâtes /tʁe.by.ʃat/	trébuchèrent /tʁe.by.ʃɛʁ/
	future	trébucherai /tʁe.byʃ.ʁe/	trébucheras /tʁe.byʃ.ʁa/	trébuchera /tʁe.byʃ.ʁa/	trébucherons /tʁe.byʃ.ʁɔ̃/	trébucherez /tʁe.byʃ.ʁe/	trébucheront /tʁe.byʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	trébucherais /tʁe.byʃ.ʁɛ/	trébucherais /tʁe.byʃ.ʁɛ/	trébucherait /tʁe.byʃ.ʁɛ/	trébucherions /tʁe.by.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	trébucheriez /tʁe.by.ʃə.ʁje/	trébucheraient /tʁe.byʃ.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	trébuche /tʁe.byʃ/	trébuches /tʁe.byʃ/	trébuche /tʁe.byʃ/	trébuchions /tʁe.by.ʃjɔ̃/	trébuchiez /tʁe.by.ʃje/	trébuchent /tʁe.byʃ/
	imperfect2	trébuchasse /tʁe.by.ʃas/	trébuchasses /tʁe.by.ʃas/	trébuchât /tʁe.by.ʃa/	trébuchassions /tʁe.by.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	trébuchassiez /tʁe.by.ʃa.sje/	trébuchassent /tʁe.by.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	trébuche /tʁe.byʃ/	—	trébuchons /tʁe.by.ʃɔ̃/	trébuchez /tʁe.by.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).

Further reading

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