roucouler

French

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁu.ku.le/

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Verb

roucouler

1. to coo (make a soft murmuring sound, as a pigeon)
   • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎^[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères:

     Si elle ne l'avait point instruit de ce billet, c'était afin de lui épargner des tracas domestiques; elle s'assit sur ses genoux, le caressa, roucoula, fit une longue énumération de toutes les choses indispensables prises à crédit.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of roucouler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	roucouler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	roucoulant /ʁu.ku.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		roucoulé /ʁu.ku.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	roucoule /ʁu.kul/	roucoules /ʁu.kul/	roucoule /ʁu.kul/	roucoulons /ʁu.ku.lɔ̃/	roucoulez /ʁu.ku.le/	roucoulent /ʁu.kul/
	imperfect	roucoulais /ʁu.ku.lɛ/	roucoulais /ʁu.ku.lɛ/	roucoulait /ʁu.ku.lɛ/	roucoulions /ʁu.ku.ljɔ̃/	roucouliez /ʁu.ku.lje/	roucoulaient /ʁu.ku.lɛ/
	past historic2	roucoulai /ʁu.ku.le/	roucoulas /ʁu.ku.la/	roucoula /ʁu.ku.la/	roucoulâmes /ʁu.ku.lam/	roucoulâtes /ʁu.ku.lat/	roucoulèrent /ʁu.ku.lɛʁ/
	future	roucoulerai /ʁu.kul.ʁe/	roucouleras /ʁu.kul.ʁa/	roucoulera /ʁu.kul.ʁa/	roucoulerons /ʁu.kul.ʁɔ̃/	roucoulerez /ʁu.kul.ʁe/	roucouleront /ʁu.kul.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	roucoulerais /ʁu.kul.ʁɛ/	roucoulerais /ʁu.kul.ʁɛ/	roucoulerait /ʁu.kul.ʁɛ/	roucoulerions /ʁu.ku.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	roucouleriez /ʁu.ku.lə.ʁje/	roucouleraient /ʁu.kul.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	roucoule /ʁu.kul/	roucoules /ʁu.kul/	roucoule /ʁu.kul/	roucoulions /ʁu.ku.ljɔ̃/	roucouliez /ʁu.ku.lje/	roucoulent /ʁu.kul/
	imperfect2	roucoulasse /ʁu.ku.las/	roucoulasses /ʁu.ku.las/	roucoulât /ʁu.ku.la/	roucoulassions /ʁu.ku.la.sjɔ̃/	roucoulassiez /ʁu.ku.la.sje/	roucoulassent /ʁu.ku.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	roucoule /ʁu.kul/	—	roucoulons /ʁu.ku.lɔ̃/	roucoulez /ʁu.ku.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).

Related terms

• roucoulement

Further reading

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