rabâcher

French

Etymology

From a root *rabb-, possibly from the substrate, whence also possibly Old French rabaster (“to make noise”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.ba.ʃe/, /ʁa.bɑ.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

rabâcher

1. to harp on (about)
2. to go back on one's word; fail to keep a promise

Conjugation

Conjugation of rabâcher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rabâcher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	rabâchant /ʁa.ba.ʃɑ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		rabâché /ʁa.ba.ʃe/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	rabâche /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/	rabâches /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/	rabâche /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/	rabâchons /ʁa.ba.ʃɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɔ̃/	rabâchez /ʁa.ba.ʃe/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃe/	rabâchent /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/
	imperfect	rabâchais /ʁa.ba.ʃɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɛ/	rabâchais /ʁa.ba.ʃɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɛ/	rabâchait /ʁa.ba.ʃɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɛ/	rabâchions /ʁa.ba.ʃjɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃjɔ̃/	rabâchiez /ʁa.ba.ʃje/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃje/	rabâchaient /ʁa.ba.ʃɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	rabâchai /ʁa.ba.ʃe/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃe/	rabâchas /ʁa.ba.ʃa/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃa/	rabâcha /ʁa.ba.ʃa/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃa/	rabâchâmes /ʁa.ba.ʃam/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃam/	rabâchâtes /ʁa.ba.ʃat/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃat/	rabâchèrent /ʁa.ba.ʃɛʁ/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɛʁ/
	future	rabâcherai /ʁa.baʃ.ʁe/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁe/	rabâcheras /ʁa.baʃ.ʁa/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁa/	rabâchera /ʁa.baʃ.ʁa/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁa/	rabâcherons /ʁa.baʃ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁɔ̃/	rabâcherez /ʁa.baʃ.ʁe/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁe/	rabâcheront /ʁa.baʃ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	rabâcherais /ʁa.baʃ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁɛ/	rabâcherais /ʁa.baʃ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁɛ/	rabâcherait /ʁa.baʃ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.ʁɛ/	rabâcherions /ʁa.ba.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	rabâcheriez /ʁa.ba.ʃə.ʁje/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃə.ʁje/	rabâcheraient /ʁa.baʃ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ.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	rabâche /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/	rabâches /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/	rabâche /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/	rabâchions /ʁa.ba.ʃjɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃjɔ̃/	rabâchiez /ʁa.ba.ʃje/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃje/	rabâchent /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/
	imperfect2	rabâchasse /ʁa.ba.ʃas/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃas/	rabâchasses /ʁa.ba.ʃas/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃas/	rabâchât /ʁa.ba.ʃa/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃa/	rabâchassions /ʁa.ba.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	rabâchassiez /ʁa.ba.ʃa.sje/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃa.sje/	rabâchassent /ʁa.ba.ʃas/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	rabâche /ʁa.baʃ/ or /ʁa.bɑʃ/	—	rabâchons /ʁa.ba.ʃɔ̃/ or /ʁa.bɑ.ʃɔ̃/	rabâchez /ʁa.ba.ʃe/ or /ʁa.bɑ.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

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