trancher

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French trenchier. Compare Catalan trencar, Italian trinciare, and Spanish truncar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁɑ̃.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

trancher

1. (transitive) to slice, to cut into slices
2. (transitive, literary) to complete, conclude

   Il a tranché ses jours.

   He has concluded his days on earth.

3. (transitive, figurative) to decide, to settle, to address
4. (intransitive) to rule, make a ruling, come to a decision
   • 2024 July 8, Jordan Bardella, quotee, “Le coup de massue pour l'extrême droite”, in La Provence, sourced from AFP, page 3:

     “Le Rassemblement national incarne plus que jamais la seule alternative”, a tranché Jordan Bardella.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (intransitive, derogatory, with de) to behave or comport oneself (as if one were)

   Le comte trancha du grand seigneur.

   The count comported himself as if he were God Almighty.

6. (intransitive, with avec, sur) to contrast (with), stand out (against)
7. (intransitive, with dans) to stand out (in)

Conjugation

Conjugation of trancher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	trancher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tranchant /tʁɑ̃.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tranché /tʁɑ̃.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tranche /tʁɑ̃ʃ/	tranches /tʁɑ̃ʃ/	tranche /tʁɑ̃ʃ/	tranchons /tʁɑ̃.ʃɔ̃/	tranchez /tʁɑ̃.ʃe/	tranchent /tʁɑ̃ʃ/
	imperfect	tranchais /tʁɑ̃.ʃɛ/	tranchais /tʁɑ̃.ʃɛ/	tranchait /tʁɑ̃.ʃɛ/	tranchions /tʁɑ̃.ʃjɔ̃/	tranchiez /tʁɑ̃.ʃje/	tranchaient /tʁɑ̃.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	tranchai /tʁɑ̃.ʃe/	tranchas /tʁɑ̃.ʃa/	trancha /tʁɑ̃.ʃa/	tranchâmes /tʁɑ̃.ʃam/	tranchâtes /tʁɑ̃.ʃat/	tranchèrent /tʁɑ̃.ʃɛʁ/
	future	trancherai /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁe/	trancheras /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁa/	tranchera /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁa/	trancherons /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁɔ̃/	trancherez /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁe/	trancheront /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	trancherais /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	trancherais /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	trancherait /tʁɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	trancherions /tʁɑ̃.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	trancheriez /tʁɑ̃.ʃə.ʁje/	trancheraient /tʁɑ̃ʃ.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	tranche /tʁɑ̃ʃ/	tranches /tʁɑ̃ʃ/	tranche /tʁɑ̃ʃ/	tranchions /tʁɑ̃.ʃjɔ̃/	tranchiez /tʁɑ̃.ʃje/	tranchent /tʁɑ̃ʃ/
	imperfect2	tranchasse /tʁɑ̃.ʃas/	tranchasses /tʁɑ̃.ʃas/	tranchât /tʁɑ̃.ʃa/	tranchassions /tʁɑ̃.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	tranchassiez /tʁɑ̃.ʃa.sje/	tranchassent /tʁɑ̃.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tranche /tʁɑ̃ʃ/	—	tranchons /tʁɑ̃.ʃɔ̃/	tranchez /tʁɑ̃.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).

Derived terms

• trancher le nœud gordien

Related terms

• retrancher
• tranche
• tranchoir

Descendants

• → German: tranchieren, transchieren
  • → Russian: транжи́рить (tranžíritʹ)

See also

• couper
• tailler

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French trenchier.

Verb

trancher

1. to cut off (remove by cutting)

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of trancher

infinitive	simple	trancher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	tranchant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		tranché
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tranche	tranches	tranche	tranchons	tranchez	tranchent
	imperfect	tranchois, tranchoys	tranchois, tranchoys	tranchoit, tranchoyt	tranchions, tranchyons	tranchiez, tranchyez	tranchoient, tranchoyent
	past historic	trancha	tranchas	trancha	tranchasmes	tranchastes	trancherent
	future	trancherai, trancheray	trancheras	tranchera	trancherons	trancherez	trancheront
	conditional	trancherois, trancheroys	trancherois, trancheroys	trancheroit, trancheroyt	trancherions, trancheryons	trancheriez, trancheryez	trancheroient, trancheroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	tranche	tranches	tranche	tranchons	tranchez	tranchent
	imperfect	tranchasse	tranchasses	tranchast	tranchassions	tranchassiez	tranchassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tranche	—	tranchons	tranchez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: trancher