tirailler

French

Etymology

From tirer +‎ -ailler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ti.ʁa.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

tirailler

1. to pull, to tug
2. (figuratively) to tear somebody in two, to make somebody hesitate
3. to skirmish.

Conjugation

Conjugation of tirailler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tirailler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tiraillant /ti.ʁa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tiraillé /ti.ʁa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tiraille /ti.ʁaj/	tirailles /ti.ʁaj/	tiraille /ti.ʁaj/	tiraillons /ti.ʁa.jɔ̃/	tiraillez /ti.ʁa.je/	tiraillent /ti.ʁaj/
	imperfect	tiraillais /ti.ʁa.jɛ/	tiraillais /ti.ʁa.jɛ/	tiraillait /ti.ʁa.jɛ/	tiraillions /ti.ʁaj.jɔ̃/	tirailliez /ti.ʁaj.je/	tiraillaient /ti.ʁa.jɛ/
	past historic2	tiraillai /ti.ʁa.je/	tiraillas /ti.ʁa.ja/	tirailla /ti.ʁa.ja/	tiraillâmes /ti.ʁa.jam/	tiraillâtes /ti.ʁa.jat/	tiraillèrent /ti.ʁa.jɛʁ/
	future	tiraillerai /ti.ʁaj.ʁe/	tirailleras /ti.ʁaj.ʁa/	tiraillera /ti.ʁaj.ʁa/	tiraillerons /ti.ʁaj.ʁɔ̃/	tiraillerez /ti.ʁaj.ʁe/	tirailleront /ti.ʁaj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tiraillerais /ti.ʁaj.ʁɛ/	tiraillerais /ti.ʁaj.ʁɛ/	tiraillerait /ti.ʁaj.ʁɛ/	tiraillerions /ti.ʁa.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	tirailleriez /ti.ʁa.jə.ʁje/	tirailleraient /ti.ʁaj.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	tiraille /ti.ʁaj/	tirailles /ti.ʁaj/	tiraille /ti.ʁaj/	tiraillions /ti.ʁaj.jɔ̃/	tirailliez /ti.ʁaj.je/	tiraillent /ti.ʁaj/
	imperfect2	tiraillasse /ti.ʁa.jas/	tiraillasses /ti.ʁa.jas/	tiraillât /ti.ʁa.ja/	tiraillassions /ti.ʁa.ja.sjɔ̃/	tiraillassiez /ti.ʁa.ja.sje/	tiraillassent /ti.ʁa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tiraille /ti.ʁaj/	—	tiraillons /ti.ʁa.jɔ̃/	tiraillez /ti.ʁa.je/	—
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

• tiraillé
• tiraillement
• tirailleur

Further reading

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