grommeler

French

Etymology

From Middle French grommeler, from Old French grumeler (“to murmur, grumble”), from Middle Dutch grommelen (“to murmur, mutter, grunt”), frequentative of Middle Dutch grommen, related to Low German grummeln (“to grumble”), German grummeln (“to grumble”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁɔm.le/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

grommeler

1. (colloquial) to grumble, mutter

   Synonym: murmurer

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il grommèle and the third-person singular future indicative il grommèlera.

Conjugation of grommeler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	grommeler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	grommelant /ɡʁɔm.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		grommelé /ɡʁɔm.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/	grommèles /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/	grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/	grommelons /ɡʁɔm.lɔ̃/	grommelez /ɡʁɔm.le/	grommèlent /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/
	imperfect	grommelais /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/	grommelais /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/	grommelait /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/	grommelions /ɡʁɔ.mə.ljɔ̃/	grommeliez /ɡʁɔ.mə.lje/	grommelaient /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/
	past historic2	grommelai /ɡʁɔm.le/	grommelas /ɡʁɔm.la/	grommela /ɡʁɔm.la/	grommelâmes /ɡʁɔm.lam/	grommelâtes /ɡʁɔm.lat/	grommelèrent /ɡʁɔm.lɛʁ/
	future	grommèlerai /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁe/	grommèleras /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁa/	grommèlera /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁa/	grommèlerons /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɔ̃/	grommèlerez /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁe/	grommèleront /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	grommèlerais /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɛ/	grommèlerais /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɛ/	grommèlerait /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɛ/	grommèlerions /ɡʁɔ.mɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɡʁɔ.me.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	grommèleriez /ɡʁɔ.mɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /ɡʁɔ.me.lə.ʁje/	grommèleraient /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.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	grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/	grommèles /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/	grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/	grommelions /ɡʁɔ.mə.ljɔ̃/	grommeliez /ɡʁɔ.mə.lje/	grommèlent /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/
	imperfect2	grommelasse /ɡʁɔm.las/	grommelasses /ɡʁɔm.las/	grommelât /ɡʁɔm.la/	grommelassions /ɡʁɔm.la.sjɔ̃/	grommelassiez /ɡʁɔm.la.sje/	grommelassent /ɡʁɔm.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/	—	grommelons /ɡʁɔm.lɔ̃/	grommelez /ɡʁɔm.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 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

• grommellement

Further reading

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