tailler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French taillier, from Late Latin tāliāre, a verb based on Latin tālea (“cutting taken from a plant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.je/, /tɑ.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

tailler

1. (of a suit, garment etc.) to cut
2. to sharpen
3. (takes a reflexive pronoun, informal) to do one, to clear off

Conjugation

Conjugation of tailler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tailler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	taillant /ta.jɑ̃/ or /tɑ.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		taillé /ta.je/ or /tɑ.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	tailles /taj/ or /tɑj/	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	taillons /ta.jɔ̃/ or /tɑ.jɔ̃/	taillez /ta.je/ or /tɑ.je/	taillent /taj/ or /tɑj/
	imperfect	taillais /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/	taillais /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/	taillait /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/	taillions /taj.jɔ̃/ or /tɑj.jɔ̃/	tailliez /taj.je/ or /tɑj.je/	taillaient /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/
	past historic2	taillai /ta.je/ or /tɑ.je/	taillas /ta.ja/ or /tɑ.ja/	tailla /ta.ja/ or /tɑ.ja/	taillâmes /ta.jam/ or /tɑ.jam/	taillâtes /ta.jat/ or /tɑ.jat/	taillèrent /ta.jɛʁ/ or /tɑ.jɛʁ/
	future	taillerai /taj.ʁe/ or /tɑj.ʁe/	tailleras /taj.ʁa/ or /tɑj.ʁa/	taillera /taj.ʁa/ or /tɑj.ʁa/	taillerons /taj.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑj.ʁɔ̃/	taillerez /taj.ʁe/ or /tɑj.ʁe/	tailleront /taj.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	taillerais /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.ʁɛ/	taillerais /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.ʁɛ/	taillerait /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.ʁɛ/	taillerions /ta.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	tailleriez /ta.jə.ʁje/ or /tɑ.jə.ʁje/	tailleraient /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.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	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	tailles /taj/ or /tɑj/	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	taillions /taj.jɔ̃/ or /tɑj.jɔ̃/	tailliez /taj.je/ or /tɑj.je/	taillent /taj/ or /tɑj/
	imperfect2	taillasse /ta.jas/ or /tɑ.jas/	taillasses /ta.jas/ or /tɑ.jas/	taillât /ta.ja/ or /tɑ.ja/	taillassions /ta.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ja.sjɔ̃/	taillassiez /ta.ja.sje/ or /tɑ.ja.sje/	taillassent /ta.jas/ or /tɑ.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	—	taillons /ta.jɔ̃/ or /tɑ.jɔ̃/	taillez /ta.je/ or /tɑ.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

• (to leave): se barrer, se casser, décamper

Derived terms

• se tailler la part du lion
• tailler dans le gingas
• tailler des croupières
• tailler en pièces
• tailler le bout de gras
• tailler une bavette
• tailler une pipe

 

Related terms

• entailler
• taille
• détailler
• retailler

See also

• couper
• trancher

Further reading

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