branler

French

Etymology

From Middle French bransler, from Old French bransler (“to shake (a sword at), move”), a contracted form of brandeler (“to wobble”), from Vulgar Latin *brandus (“firebrand, flaming sword, sword”), ultimately from Frankish *brand (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“burning, flash, firebrand, flaming sword”).

The supposed intermediary form, Late Latin *brandulare, also from Proto-West Germanic *brand (“sword”), is unlikely given that the suffix -ulare had already fallen into disuse (i.e. was no longer productive) at the time of borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɑ̃.le/

Verb

branler

1. (transitive) to shake
2. (transitive) to touch (some work)

   Comme il n'a rien branlé, il reste encore la moitié du boulot à faire.

   Since he hasn't touched anything, there's still half the work left to do.

3. (transitive, vulgar, slang) to do

   Qu'est-ce que tu branles ?

   What the fuck are you up to?

   Synonyms: foutre, glander, fabriquer

4. (transitive, vulgar, slang) to masturbate (another person)

   Il m'a branlé, puis j'ai joui.

   He wanked me off, then I came.

5. (reflexive, vulgar, se branler) to masturbate

Conjugation

Conjugation of branler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	branler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	branlant /bʁɑ̃.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		branlé /bʁɑ̃.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branles /bʁɑ̃l/	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branlons /bʁɑ̃.lɔ̃/	branlez /bʁɑ̃.le/	branlent /bʁɑ̃l/
	imperfect	branlais /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/	branlais /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/	branlait /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/	branlions /bʁɑ̃.ljɔ̃/	branliez /bʁɑ̃.lje/	branlaient /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/
	past historic2	branlai /bʁɑ̃.le/	branlas /bʁɑ̃.la/	branla /bʁɑ̃.la/	branlâmes /bʁɑ̃.lam/	branlâtes /bʁɑ̃.lat/	branlèrent /bʁɑ̃.lɛʁ/
	future	branlerai /bʁɑ̃l.ʁe/	branleras /bʁɑ̃l.ʁa/	branlera /bʁɑ̃l.ʁa/	branlerons /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɔ̃/	branlerez /bʁɑ̃l.ʁe/	branleront /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	branlerais /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/	branlerais /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/	branlerait /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/	branlerions /bʁɑ̃.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	branleriez /bʁɑ̃.lə.ʁje/	branleraient /bʁɑ̃l.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	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branles /bʁɑ̃l/	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branlions /bʁɑ̃.ljɔ̃/	branliez /bʁɑ̃.lje/	branlent /bʁɑ̃l/
	imperfect2	branlasse /bʁɑ̃.las/	branlasses /bʁɑ̃.las/	branlât /bʁɑ̃.la/	branlassions /bʁɑ̃.la.sjɔ̃/	branlassiez /bʁɑ̃.la.sje/	branlassent /bʁɑ̃.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	—	branlons /bʁɑ̃.lɔ̃/	branlez /bʁɑ̃.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 only usable with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

Derived terms

• branlage
• branle

• branlette
• branleur

Further reading

• “branler” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).