accoucher

French

Etymology

From a- +‎ coucher.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ku.ʃe/

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Verb

accoucher

1. (intransitive) to go into labour
2. (transitive) to give birth to, to deliver (a baby) [with de ‘quelqu'un’]

   Synonyms: mettre au monde, donner naissance

   Elle a accouché d'un petit garçon.

   She gave birth to a little boy.

3. (transitive) to help someone deliver (a baby)

   Elle accouchait les mères.

   She used to help mothers give birth.

4. (transitive) to come up with [with de ‘quelque chose’]

   Il a accouché d'une merveilleuse idée.

   He came up with a wonderful idea.

5. (intransitive, slang) to say, tell something that one hid beforehand

   Synonyms: balancer, cracher le morceau

   Allez, accouche ! On va rien te faire.

   Come on, say it! We won't do nothing to you.

Conjugation

Conjugation of accoucher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	accoucher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	accouchant /a.ku.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		accouché /a.ku.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	accouche /a.kuʃ/	accouches /a.kuʃ/	accouche /a.kuʃ/	accouchons /a.ku.ʃɔ̃/	accouchez /a.ku.ʃe/	accouchent /a.kuʃ/
	imperfect	accouchais /a.ku.ʃɛ/	accouchais /a.ku.ʃɛ/	accouchait /a.ku.ʃɛ/	accouchions /a.ku.ʃjɔ̃/	accouchiez /a.ku.ʃje/	accouchaient /a.ku.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	accouchai /a.ku.ʃe/	accouchas /a.ku.ʃa/	accoucha /a.ku.ʃa/	accouchâmes /a.ku.ʃam/	accouchâtes /a.ku.ʃat/	accouchèrent /a.ku.ʃɛʁ/
	future	accoucherai /a.kuʃ.ʁe/	accoucheras /a.kuʃ.ʁa/	accouchera /a.kuʃ.ʁa/	accoucherons /a.kuʃ.ʁɔ̃/	accoucherez /a.kuʃ.ʁe/	accoucheront /a.kuʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	accoucherais /a.kuʃ.ʁɛ/	accoucherais /a.kuʃ.ʁɛ/	accoucherait /a.kuʃ.ʁɛ/	accoucherions /a.ku.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	accoucheriez /a.ku.ʃə.ʁje/	accoucheraient /a.kuʃ.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	accouche /a.kuʃ/	accouches /a.kuʃ/	accouche /a.kuʃ/	accouchions /a.ku.ʃjɔ̃/	accouchiez /a.ku.ʃje/	accouchent /a.kuʃ/
	imperfect2	accouchasse /a.ku.ʃas/	accouchasses /a.ku.ʃas/	accouchât /a.ku.ʃa/	accouchassions /a.ku.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	accouchassiez /a.ku.ʃa.sje/	accouchassent /a.ku.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	accouche /a.kuʃ/	—	accouchons /a.ku.ʃɔ̃/	accouchez /a.ku.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

• accouchement
• accoucheuse

Further reading

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