choquer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French chocquer (“to clash in battle, shock, offend, hurt”), from Old French choquer (“to strike against”) and Picard chuquier, çuker (“to collide in battle, knock”), both of Germanic origin, possibly from Frankish *skukkōn, *skukkijan (“to jolt”), from Proto-Germanic *skukkōną, *skukkijaną (“to jolt”), possibly an iterative form of *skakaną (“to shake, stir”).

Cognate with Old High German scoc (“jolt, shock, swing”), Middle High German schucken, schocken (“to hit, bump, deliver a blow to”), Middle Dutch schokken (“to push, jolt”), and English shock.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɔ.ke/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

choquer

1. to hit, to collide
2. to shock (surprise, startle)
3. (Quebec) to offend, to anger (especially in reflexive)

Conjugation

Conjugation of choquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	choquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	choquant /ʃɔ.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		choqué /ʃɔ.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	choque /ʃɔk/	choques /ʃɔk/	choque /ʃɔk/	choquons /ʃɔ.kɔ̃/	choquez /ʃɔ.ke/	choquent /ʃɔk/
	imperfect	choquais /ʃɔ.kɛ/	choquais /ʃɔ.kɛ/	choquait /ʃɔ.kɛ/	choquions /ʃɔ.kjɔ̃/	choquiez /ʃɔ.kje/	choquaient /ʃɔ.kɛ/
	past historic2	choquai /ʃɔ.ke/	choquas /ʃɔ.ka/	choqua /ʃɔ.ka/	choquâmes /ʃɔ.kam/	choquâtes /ʃɔ.kat/	choquèrent /ʃɔ.kɛʁ/
	future	choquerai /ʃɔ.kʁe/	choqueras /ʃɔ.kʁa/	choquera /ʃɔ.kʁa/	choquerons /ʃɔ.kʁɔ̃/	choquerez /ʃɔ.kʁe/	choqueront /ʃɔ.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	choquerais /ʃɔ.kʁɛ/	choquerais /ʃɔ.kʁɛ/	choquerait /ʃɔ.kʁɛ/	choquerions /ʃɔ.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	choqueriez /ʃɔ.kə.ʁje/	choqueraient /ʃɔ.kʁɛ/
(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	choque /ʃɔk/	choques /ʃɔk/	choque /ʃɔk/	choquions /ʃɔ.kjɔ̃/	choquiez /ʃɔ.kje/	choquent /ʃɔk/
	imperfect2	choquasse /ʃɔ.kas/	choquasses /ʃɔ.kas/	choquât /ʃɔ.ka/	choquassions /ʃɔ.ka.sjɔ̃/	choquassiez /ʃɔ.ka.sje/	choquassent /ʃɔ.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	choque /ʃɔk/	—	choquons /ʃɔ.kɔ̃/	choquez /ʃɔ.ke/	—
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).

Related terms

• choc
• entrechoquer

Further reading

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