remuer

French

Etymology

From re- +‎ muer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.mɥe/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

remuer

1. to move (something, often with repeated, restless or agitated movement, especially a body part); to shake, swing, wag
   • 2016, Gaël Faye, Petit Pays:

     Le chien […] n'avait pas de queue, alors il remuait l'arrière-train pour signifier qu'il était content.

     The dog […] didn't have a tail, so it wagged its hindquarters to show it was happy.

   Le bébé remue ses bras.

   The baby moves its arms.

2. to move; to shift; to shuffle; to rearrange (something around)

   Near-synonyms: déplacer, bouger

   Il a remué le canapé pour nettoyer derrière.

   He moved the sofa to clean behind it.

   Elle a remué les papiers sur le bureau pour chercher un document.

   She shuffled the papers on the desk to search for a document.

3. to stir (a liquid or mixture)

   Near-synonyms: tourner, mélanger

   Il remue le café.

   He stirs the coffee.

4. to turn over (earth, soil); to toss (salad)

   Synonym: retourner

   J’ai remué la terre.

   I turned over the soil.

5. to deeply move, touch (someone)

   Synonym: émouvoir

   Son discours m’a remué.

   His speech moved me.

6. to stir up (emotions, feelings, memories)

   Near-synonym: raviver

   Cette histoire a remué beaucoup de souvenirs.

   This story stirred up many memories.

7. (reflexive) to move (around); to fidget

   Il se remue beaucoup.

   He moves around a lot.

8. (reflexive, figurative) to make an effort; to get moving

   Il faut se remuer pour réussir.

   You have to make an effort to succeed.

Usage notes

• Remuer typically emphasises movement that is repeated, restless or agitated, whereas bouger is more neutral and déplacer often indicates movement to a different location or position. In some contexts, these verbs can be interchangeable to convey a different nuance.

Conjugation

Conjugation of remuer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	remuer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	remuant /ʁə.mɥɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		remué /ʁə.mɥe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	remue /ʁə.my/	remues /ʁə.my/	remue /ʁə.my/	remuons /ʁə.mɥɔ̃/	remuez /ʁə.mɥe/	remuent /ʁə.my/
	imperfect	remuais /ʁə.mɥɛ/	remuais /ʁə.mɥɛ/	remuait /ʁə.mɥɛ/	remuions /ʁə.my.jɔ̃/	remuiez /ʁə.my.je/	remuaient /ʁə.mɥɛ/
	past historic2	remuai /ʁə.mɥe/	remuas /ʁə.mɥa/	remua /ʁə.mɥa/	remuâmes /ʁə.mɥam/	remuâtes /ʁə.mɥat/	remuèrent /ʁə.mɥɛʁ/
	future	remuerai /ʁə.my.ʁe/	remueras /ʁə.my.ʁa/	remuera /ʁə.my.ʁa/	remuerons /ʁə.my.ʁɔ̃/	remuerez /ʁə.my.ʁe/	remueront /ʁə.my.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	remuerais /ʁə.my.ʁɛ/	remuerais /ʁə.my.ʁɛ/	remuerait /ʁə.my.ʁɛ/	remuerions /ʁə.my.ʁjɔ̃/	remueriez /ʁə.my.ʁje/	remueraient /ʁə.my.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	remue /ʁə.my/	remues /ʁə.my/	remue /ʁə.my/	remuions /ʁə.my.jɔ̃/	remuiez /ʁə.my.je/	remuent /ʁə.my/
	imperfect2	remuasse /ʁə.mɥas/	remuasses /ʁə.mɥas/	remuât /ʁə.mɥa/	remuassions /ʁə.mɥa.sjɔ̃/	remuassiez /ʁə.mɥa.sje/	remuassent /ʁə.mɥas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	remue /ʁə.my/	—	remuons /ʁə.mɥɔ̃/	remuez /ʁə.mɥe/	—
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

• remuer ciel et terre
• remuer le couteau dans la plaie

See also

• agiter
• bouger
• émouvoir
• mouvoir
• raviver
• secouer
• touiller

Further reading

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