branler

French

Etymology

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

The supposed intermediary form, Late Latin *brandulare, also from Frankish *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): /bʁɑ̃le/

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?

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

   Elle m'a branlé, puis j'ai joui.

   She wanked me off, then I came.

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

Conjugation

  Conjugation of branler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		branler			avoir branlé
gerund		en branlant			en ayant branlé
present participle		branlant /bʁɑ̃.lɑ̃/
past participle		branlé /bʁɑ̃.le/
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
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 historic1	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	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branles /bʁɑ̃l/	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branlions /bʁɑ̃.ljɔ̃/	branliez /bʁɑ̃.lje/	branlent /bʁɑ̃l/
	imperfect1	branlasse /bʁɑ̃.las/	branlasses /bʁɑ̃.las/	branlât /bʁɑ̃.la/	branlassions /bʁɑ̃.la.sjɔ̃/	branlassiez /bʁɑ̃.la.sje/	branlassent /bʁɑ̃.las/
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	—	branlons /bʁɑ̃.lɔ̃/	branlez /bʁɑ̃.le/	—
1literary tenses

Derived terms

Derived terms

• branlage
• branle

• branlette
• branleur

Further reading

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