frapper

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French frapper, from Old French fraper, frapper (“to deliver a blow to someone, hit, strike”), from Frankish *hrapōn (“to snatch, scuffle”), from Proto-Germanic *hrapōną, *hrapjaną (“to touch, scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krep-, *(s)kreb- (“to scratch, engrave”). Cognate with Old High German hraffōn (“to take over, seize”) (whence German raffen (“to gather up, heap”)), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat”), Old Norse hrappa (“to handle roughly”), North Frisian rippe (“to move, stir”).

For the Romance substitution of [fr] for Germanic [xr] compare also freux, froc, frimas, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁa.pe/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

frapper

1. to hit, to strike, to bash

   Il m’a frappé le bras. ― He hit me on the arm.

2. to knock (e.g. on a door)
   • 1978, “Aimer d'amour”, performed by Boule Noire:

     L’amour ne vient pas souvent / Frapper au bon moment / Quand il vient te voir / Faut savoir le recevoir

     Love does not often come / Knocking at the right moment / When it comes to see you / You must know how to let it in

   • 2006, “Un Ange Frappe À Ma Porte”, in Longueur D'Ondes, performed by Natasha St. Pier:

     Un ange frappe à ma porte

     An angel knocks at my door

3. to bang (to get attention)
4. (music) to beat time (as a conductor)
5. (music) to strike (a chord)
6. to strike down

   frappé par Dieu ― struck down by God

7. to hit (to be affected by a punishment)
8. (figuratively) to strike

   frapper l’imagination ― to strike the imagination.

9. (bartending) to shake

Conjugation

Conjugation of frapper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	frapper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	frappant /fʁa.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		frappé /fʁa.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	frappe /fʁap/	frappes /fʁap/	frappe /fʁap/	frappons /fʁa.pɔ̃/	frappez /fʁa.pe/	frappent /fʁap/
	imperfect	frappais /fʁa.pɛ/	frappais /fʁa.pɛ/	frappait /fʁa.pɛ/	frappions /fʁa.pjɔ̃/	frappiez /fʁa.pje/	frappaient /fʁa.pɛ/
	past historic2	frappai /fʁa.pe/	frappas /fʁa.pa/	frappa /fʁa.pa/	frappâmes /fʁa.pam/	frappâtes /fʁa.pat/	frappèrent /fʁa.pɛʁ/
	future	frapperai /fʁa.pʁe/	frapperas /fʁa.pʁa/	frappera /fʁa.pʁa/	frapperons /fʁa.pʁɔ̃/	frapperez /fʁa.pʁe/	frapperont /fʁa.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	frapperais /fʁa.pʁɛ/	frapperais /fʁa.pʁɛ/	frapperait /fʁa.pʁɛ/	frapperions /fʁa.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	frapperiez /fʁa.pə.ʁje/	frapperaient /fʁa.pʁɛ/
(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	frappe /fʁap/	frappes /fʁap/	frappe /fʁap/	frappions /fʁa.pjɔ̃/	frappiez /fʁa.pje/	frappent /fʁap/
	imperfect2	frappasse /fʁa.pas/	frappasses /fʁa.pas/	frappât /fʁa.pa/	frappassions /fʁa.pa.sjɔ̃/	frappassiez /fʁa.pa.sje/	frappassent /fʁa.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	frappe /fʁap/	—	frappons /fʁa.pɔ̃/	frappez /fʁa.pe/	—
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).

Derived terms

• frapper à la bonne porte
• frappé au coin du bon sens
• frapper un ennemi à terre
• frapper les grands coups
• frapper monnaie
• frappe
• frappoir

Descendants

• → German: frappieren
• → Polish: frapować

Further reading

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

Middle French

Alternative forms

• fraper

Verb

frapper

1. to hit; to strike

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of frapper

infinitive	simple	frapper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	frappant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		frappé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	frappe	frappes	frappe	frappons	frappez	frappent
	imperfect	frappois, frappoys	frappois, frappoys	frappoit, frappoyt	frappions, frappyons	frappiez, frappyez	frappoient, frappoyent
	past historic	frappa	frappas	frappa	frappasmes	frappastes	frapperent
	future	frapperai, frapperay	frapperas	frappera	frapperons	frapperez	frapperont
	conditional	frapperois, frapperoys	frapperois, frapperoys	frapperoit, frapperoyt	frapperions, frapperyons	frapperiez, frapperyez	frapperoient, frapperoyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	frappe	frappes	frappe	frappons	frappez	frappent
	imperfect	frappasse	frappasses	frappast	frappassions	frappassiez	frappassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	frappe	—	frappons	frappez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: frapper