brosser

French

Etymology

From brosse +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɔ.se/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Verb

brosser

1. (transitive) to brush (to clean/tidy/shape with a brush)
2. (transitive) to whip, to beat (to defeat)
3. (Belgium, informal) to play truant, to skip class

Conjugation

Conjugation of brosser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	brosser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	brossant /bʁɔ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		brossé /bʁɔ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	brosse /bʁɔs/	brosses /bʁɔs/	brosse /bʁɔs/	brossons /bʁɔ.sɔ̃/	brossez /bʁɔ.se/	brossent /bʁɔs/
	imperfect	brossais /bʁɔ.sɛ/	brossais /bʁɔ.sɛ/	brossait /bʁɔ.sɛ/	brossions /bʁɔ.sjɔ̃/	brossiez /bʁɔ.sje/	brossaient /bʁɔ.sɛ/
	past historic2	brossai /bʁɔ.se/	brossas /bʁɔ.sa/	brossa /bʁɔ.sa/	brossâmes /bʁɔ.sam/	brossâtes /bʁɔ.sat/	brossèrent /bʁɔ.sɛʁ/
	future	brosserai /bʁɔ.sʁe/	brosseras /bʁɔ.sʁa/	brossera /bʁɔ.sʁa/	brosserons /bʁɔ.sʁɔ̃/	brosserez /bʁɔ.sʁe/	brosseront /bʁɔ.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	brosserais /bʁɔ.sʁɛ/	brosserais /bʁɔ.sʁɛ/	brosserait /bʁɔ.sʁɛ/	brosserions /bʁɔ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	brosseriez /bʁɔ.sə.ʁje/	brosseraient /bʁɔ.sʁɛ/
(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	brosse /bʁɔs/	brosses /bʁɔs/	brosse /bʁɔs/	brossions /bʁɔ.sjɔ̃/	brossiez /bʁɔ.sje/	brossent /bʁɔs/
	imperfect2	brossasse /bʁɔ.sas/	brossasses /bʁɔ.sas/	brossât /bʁɔ.sa/	brossassions /bʁɔ.sa.sjɔ̃/	brossassiez /bʁɔ.sa.sje/	brossassent /bʁɔ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	brosse /bʁɔs/	—	brossons /bʁɔ.sɔ̃/	brossez /bʁɔ.se/	—
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).

Further reading

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