travailler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French travailler, from Old French travailler (“toil, suffer, torment”), from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre (“torture”), derived from Late Latin tripālium (“torture instrument”), from Latin tripālis (“having three stakes”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁa.va.je/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

travailler

1. to work

   Il ne fait que travailler.

   All he does is work.

2. to study
3. to struggle
   • Elle, qui n’était pas grosse comme un œuf / envieuse s’étend, et s’enfle, et se travaille / pour égaler l’animal en grosseur

     It, no larger than an egg, envious, elongated, stretched, and struggled / to equal the animal in size

     (Jean De La Fontaine)

Conjugation

Conjugation of travailler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	travailler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	travaillant /tʁa.va.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		travaillé /tʁa.va.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	travaille /tʁa.vaj/	travailles /tʁa.vaj/	travaille /tʁa.vaj/	travaillons /tʁa.va.jɔ̃/	travaillez /tʁa.va.je/	travaillent /tʁa.vaj/
	imperfect	travaillais /tʁa.va.jɛ/	travaillais /tʁa.va.jɛ/	travaillait /tʁa.va.jɛ/	travaillions /tʁa.vaj.jɔ̃/	travailliez /tʁa.vaj.je/	travaillaient /tʁa.va.jɛ/
	past historic2	travaillai /tʁa.va.je/	travaillas /tʁa.va.ja/	travailla /tʁa.va.ja/	travaillâmes /tʁa.va.jam/	travaillâtes /tʁa.va.jat/	travaillèrent /tʁa.va.jɛʁ/
	future	travaillerai /tʁa.vaj.ʁe/	travailleras /tʁa.vaj.ʁa/	travaillera /tʁa.vaj.ʁa/	travaillerons /tʁa.vaj.ʁɔ̃/	travaillerez /tʁa.vaj.ʁe/	travailleront /tʁa.vaj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	travaillerais /tʁa.vaj.ʁɛ/	travaillerais /tʁa.vaj.ʁɛ/	travaillerait /tʁa.vaj.ʁɛ/	travaillerions /tʁa.va.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	travailleriez /tʁa.va.jə.ʁje/	travailleraient /tʁa.vaj.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	travaille /tʁa.vaj/	travailles /tʁa.vaj/	travaille /tʁa.vaj/	travaillions /tʁa.vaj.jɔ̃/	travailliez /tʁa.vaj.je/	travaillent /tʁa.vaj/
	imperfect2	travaillasse /tʁa.va.jas/	travaillasses /tʁa.va.jas/	travaillât /tʁa.va.ja/	travaillassions /tʁa.va.ja.sjɔ̃/	travaillassiez /tʁa.va.ja.sje/	travaillassent /tʁa.va.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	travaille /tʁa.vaj/	—	travaillons /tʁa.va.jɔ̃/	travaillez /tʁa.va.je/	—
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).

Synonyms

• (work): bosser (France, informal), taffer (France, informal), turbiner (France, informal)

Related terms

• travail
• travailliste
• travailleur
• travailleuse

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: travay
• → Danish: travaillere

Further reading

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

Middle French

Alternative forms

• travaillier, traveillier

Etymology

From Old French traveiller.

Verb

travailler

1. to suffer (be in a state of suffering)

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of travailler

infinitive	simple	travailler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	travaillant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		travaillé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	travaille	travailles	travaille	travaillons	travaillez	travaillent
	imperfect	travaillois, travailloys	travaillois, travailloys	travailloit, travailloyt	travaillions, travaillyons	travailliez, travaillyez	travailloient, travailloyent
	past historic	travailla	travaillas	travailla	travaillasmes	travaillastes	travaillerent
	future	travaillerai, travailleray	travailleras	travaillera	travaillerons	travaillerez	travailleront
	conditional	travaillerois, travailleroys	travaillerois, travailleroys	travailleroit, travailleroyt	travaillerions, travailleryons	travailleriez, travailleryez	travailleroient, travailleroyent
(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	travaille	travailles	travaille	travaillons	travaillez	travaillent
	imperfect	travaillasse	travaillasses	travaillast	travaillassions	travaillassiez	travaillassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	travaille	—	travaillons	travaillez	—
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: travailler
  • Haitian Creole: travay
  • → Danish: travaillere

Old French

Alternative forms

• travaillier, traveillier

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre (“torment”), derived from Late Latin tripālium (“torture device”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾavaˈʎeːɾ/

Verb

travailler

1. suffer
2. torment oneself

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -ier, with a palatal stem. These verbs are conjugated mostly like verbs in -er, but there is an extra i before the e of some endings. The forms that would normally end in *-aill, *-aills, *-aillt are modified to ail, auz, aut. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of travailler (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		travailler			avoir travaillié
gerund		en travaillant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		travaillant
past participle		travaillié
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	travail	travailles	travaille	travaillons	travailliez	travaillent
	imperfect	travailloie, travailleie, travailloe, travaillieve	travailloies, travailleies, travailloes, travaillieves	travailloit, travailleit, travaillot, travaillieve	travailliiens, travailliens	travailliiez, travailliez	travailloient, travailleient, travailloent, travaillievent
	preterite	travaillai	travaillas	travailla	travaillames	travaillastes	travaillierent
	future	travaillerai	travailleras	travaillera	travaillerons	travailleroiz, travaillereiz, travaillerez	travailleront
	conditional	travailleroie, travaillereie	travailleroies, travaillereies	travailleroit, travaillereit	travailleriiens, travailleriens	travailleriiez, travailleriez	travailleroient, travaillereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	travail	travauz	travaut	travaillons	travailliez	travaillent
	imperfect	travaillasse	travaillasses	travaillast	travaillissons, travaillissiens	travaillissoiz, travaillissez, travaillissiez	travaillassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	travaille	—	travaillons	travailliez	—

Descendants

• Lorrain: traiveiller
• Middle French: travailler, travaillier, traveillier, travaillier
  • French: travailler
    • Haitian Creole: travay
    • → Danish: travaillere
• Norman: travaillier, travailli, travâler
• Walloon: travayî

• → Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: travaddà, travaglià
  • Italian: travagliare
  • Neapolitan: travaglià
  • Sicilian: travagghiari
• → Middle English: travaillen, travelen
  • English: travail, travel