reculer

French

Etymology

From re- +‎ cul +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.ky.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

reculer

1. (transitive) to move back, to put back
2. (intransitive) to go backwards
3. (intransitive) to back down, to concede
4. (intransitive) to back off, to draw back, to retreat
5. (intransitive) to recede, to gradually disappear
6. (intransitive) to drop, to fall, to decline
7. (nautical, intransitive) to go astern

Conjugation

Conjugation of reculer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	reculer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	reculant /ʁə.ky.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		reculé /ʁə.ky.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	recule /ʁə.kyl/	recules /ʁə.kyl/	recule /ʁə.kyl/	reculons /ʁə.ky.lɔ̃/	reculez /ʁə.ky.le/	reculent /ʁə.kyl/
	imperfect	reculais /ʁə.ky.lɛ/	reculais /ʁə.ky.lɛ/	reculait /ʁə.ky.lɛ/	reculions /ʁə.ky.ljɔ̃/	reculiez /ʁə.ky.lje/	reculaient /ʁə.ky.lɛ/
	past historic2	reculai /ʁə.ky.le/	reculas /ʁə.ky.la/	recula /ʁə.ky.la/	reculâmes /ʁə.ky.lam/	reculâtes /ʁə.ky.lat/	reculèrent /ʁə.ky.lɛʁ/
	future	reculerai /ʁə.kyl.ʁe/	reculeras /ʁə.kyl.ʁa/	reculera /ʁə.kyl.ʁa/	reculerons /ʁə.kyl.ʁɔ̃/	reculerez /ʁə.kyl.ʁe/	reculeront /ʁə.kyl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	reculerais /ʁə.kyl.ʁɛ/	reculerais /ʁə.kyl.ʁɛ/	reculerait /ʁə.kyl.ʁɛ/	reculerions /ʁə.ky.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	reculeriez /ʁə.ky.lə.ʁje/	reculeraient /ʁə.kyl.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	recule /ʁə.kyl/	recules /ʁə.kyl/	recule /ʁə.kyl/	reculions /ʁə.ky.ljɔ̃/	reculiez /ʁə.ky.lje/	reculent /ʁə.kyl/
	imperfect2	reculasse /ʁə.ky.las/	reculasses /ʁə.ky.las/	reculât /ʁə.ky.la/	reculassions /ʁə.ky.la.sjɔ̃/	reculassiez /ʁə.ky.la.sje/	reculassent /ʁə.ky.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	recule /ʁə.kyl/	—	reculons /ʁə.ky.lɔ̃/	reculez /ʁə.ky.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

• recul
• reculement
• à reculons
• reculer pour mieux sauter

Related terms

• culer

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• ulcérer