échouer
See also: êchouer
French
Etymology
Uncertain.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.ʃwe/
Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (France (Vosges)): (file) Audio (France (Hérault)): (file) Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)): (file) Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (France (Somain)): (file) - Rhymes: -we
Verb
échouer
- to fail, fall through, miscarry
- (informal) to end, wind up
- Ils échouaient criblés de dettes. ― They ended up in mountains of debt.
- (transitive, intransitive, reflexive) to ground, run aground
- (voluntarily) to beach
Usage notes
Because of the similarity of their first syllables, échec (“failure”) is often treated as the noun form of échouer, but in fact the two words are unrelated.
Conjugation
Conjugation of échouer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | échouer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | échouant /e.ʃwɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | échoué /e.ʃwe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | échoue /e.ʃu/ |
échoues /e.ʃu/ |
échoue /e.ʃu/ |
échouons /e.ʃwɔ̃/ |
échouez /e.ʃwe/ |
échouent /e.ʃu/ |
| imperfect | échouais /e.ʃwɛ/ |
échouais /e.ʃwɛ/ |
échouait /e.ʃwɛ/ |
échouions /e.ʃu.jɔ̃/ |
échouiez /e.ʃu.je/ |
échouaient /e.ʃwɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | échouai /e.ʃwe/ |
échouas /e.ʃwa/ |
échoua /e.ʃwa/ |
échouâmes /e.ʃwam/ |
échouâtes /e.ʃwat/ |
échouèrent /e.ʃwɛʁ/ | |
| future | échouerai /e.ʃu.ʁe/ |
échoueras /e.ʃu.ʁa/ |
échouera /e.ʃu.ʁa/ |
échouerons /e.ʃu.ʁɔ̃/ |
échouerez /e.ʃu.ʁe/ |
échoueront /e.ʃu.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | échouerais /e.ʃu.ʁɛ/ |
échouerais /e.ʃu.ʁɛ/ |
échouerait /e.ʃu.ʁɛ/ |
échouerions /e.ʃu.ʁjɔ̃/ |
échoueriez /e.ʃu.ʁje/ |
échoueraient /e.ʃu.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 | échoue /e.ʃu/ |
échoues /e.ʃu/ |
échoue /e.ʃu/ |
échouions /e.ʃu.jɔ̃/ |
échouiez /e.ʃu.je/ |
échouent /e.ʃu/ |
| imperfect2 | échouasse /e.ʃwas/ |
échouasses /e.ʃwas/ |
échouât /e.ʃwa/ |
échouassions /e.ʃwa.sjɔ̃/ |
échouassiez /e.ʃwa.sje/ |
échouassent /e.ʃwas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | échoue /e.ʃu/ |
— | échouons /e.ʃwɔ̃/ |
échouez /e.ʃwe/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Further reading
- “échouer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012