brûler

See also: bruler

French

Alternative forms

• bruler (1990 reform spelling)

Etymology

From Middle French brusler “to burn” from Old French brusler, bruller (“to burn”), a conflation of bruir (“to burn”) (from Frankish *brōjan (“to burn, scald”), from Proto-Germanic *brōaną “to scald”, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bhrew- “to boil, seethe”), and usler (“to scorch”), from Latin ustulāre (“to scorch”). Compare also Italian bruciare, from a Vulgar Latin form *brusiāre, which is probably related, as well as brustolare. The initial br- has had other origins proposed, such as from a Gaulish source, or from a corruption of a form *combustulāre, from a change of prefix of ambustulāre, influenced by combustus. Akin to German brühen (“to scald”), Dutch broeien (“to heat”). More at broil, brew.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁy.le/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

brûler

1. (transitive, intransitive) to burn

   La maison des voisins a brûlé.

   The neighbors' house has burnt down.

   Ils sont en train de brûler un tas de feuilles mortes.

   They are burning a heap of leaves.

2. (reflexive) to burn oneself

   Je me suis brûlé avec une ampoule.

   I burnt myself on a light bulb.

Conjugation

Conjugation of brûler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	brûler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	brûlant /bʁy.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		brûlé /bʁy.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	brûle /bʁyl/	brûles /bʁyl/	brûle /bʁyl/	brûlons /bʁy.lɔ̃/	brûlez /bʁy.le/	brûlent /bʁyl/
	imperfect	brûlais /bʁy.lɛ/	brûlais /bʁy.lɛ/	brûlait /bʁy.lɛ/	brûlions /bʁy.ljɔ̃/	brûliez /bʁy.lje/	brûlaient /bʁy.lɛ/
	past historic2	brûlai /bʁy.le/	brûlas /bʁy.la/	brûla /bʁy.la/	brûlâmes /bʁy.lam/	brûlâtes /bʁy.lat/	brûlèrent /bʁy.lɛʁ/
	future	brûlerai /bʁyl.ʁe/	brûleras /bʁyl.ʁa/	brûlera /bʁyl.ʁa/	brûlerons /bʁyl.ʁɔ̃/	brûlerez /bʁyl.ʁe/	brûleront /bʁyl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	brûlerais /bʁyl.ʁɛ/	brûlerais /bʁyl.ʁɛ/	brûlerait /bʁyl.ʁɛ/	brûlerions /bʁy.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	brûleriez /bʁy.lə.ʁje/	brûleraient /bʁyl.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	brûle /bʁyl/	brûles /bʁyl/	brûle /bʁyl/	brûlions /bʁy.ljɔ̃/	brûliez /bʁy.lje/	brûlent /bʁyl/
	imperfect2	brûlasse /bʁy.las/	brûlasses /bʁy.las/	brûlât /bʁy.la/	brûlassions /bʁy.la.sjɔ̃/	brûlassiez /bʁy.la.sje/	brûlassent /bʁy.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	brûle /bʁyl/	—	brûlons /bʁy.lɔ̃/	brûlez /bʁy.le/	—
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

• ardre (archaic)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• brûlage
• brûle

• brûler le dur
• brûlure

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: boule

Further reading

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

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Norman

Alternative forms

• brulaïr (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French brusler (“to burn”).

Verb

brûler (gerund brûl'lie)

1. (Jersey) to burn