pousser

French

Etymology

From Old French, inherited from Latin pulsō, pulsāre, from pulsus (“a push”) (and frequentative of pellō). Compare the prefixed verb expulser, a borrowing from Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu.se/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

pousser

1. (transitive) to push
2. (transitive, followed by the preposition à) to urge on, encourage

   pousser quelqu'un à faire quelque chose

   pousser à

3. (intransitive, of a living thing) to grow

   L’arbre pousse vite.

   The tree is growing quickly.

4. (intransitive, figuratively) to spring up, to sprout

   Les Starbucks poussent comme des champignons ici.

   The Starbucks are springing up like mushrooms here.

5. to utter (a cry)
6. (reflexive) to move aside

Conjugation

Conjugation of pousser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	pousser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	poussant /pu.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		poussé /pu.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	pousse /pus/	pousses /pus/	pousse /pus/	poussons /pu.sɔ̃/	poussez /pu.se/	poussent /pus/
	imperfect	poussais /pu.sɛ/	poussais /pu.sɛ/	poussait /pu.sɛ/	poussions /pu.sjɔ̃/	poussiez /pu.sje/	poussaient /pu.sɛ/
	past historic2	poussai /pu.se/	poussas /pu.sa/	poussa /pu.sa/	poussâmes /pu.sam/	poussâtes /pu.sat/	poussèrent /pu.sɛʁ/
	future	pousserai /pu.sʁe/	pousseras /pu.sʁa/	poussera /pu.sʁa/	pousserons /pu.sʁɔ̃/	pousserez /pu.sʁe/	pousseront /pu.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	pousserais /pu.sʁɛ/	pousserais /pu.sʁɛ/	pousserait /pu.sʁɛ/	pousserions /pu.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	pousseriez /pu.sə.ʁje/	pousseraient /pu.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	pousse /pus/	pousses /pus/	pousse /pus/	poussions /pu.sjɔ̃/	poussiez /pu.sje/	poussent /pus/
	imperfect2	poussasse /pu.sas/	poussasses /pu.sas/	poussât /pu.sa/	poussassions /pu.sa.sjɔ̃/	poussassiez /pu.sa.sje/	poussassent /pu.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	pousse /pus/	—	poussons /pu.sɔ̃/	poussez /pu.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).

Derived terms

• se pousser

Related terms

• poussée
• poussette

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• poseurs

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Norman

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin pulsō, pulsāre (“push, strike, beat, batter, hammer”), frequentative of pellō, pellere (“push, drive, hurl, impel, propel”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Verb

pousser

1. (Jersey) to push

Antonyms

• tither (“to pull”)