tourner

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tourner, from Old French torner, from Latin tornāre (“turn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuʁ.ne/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

tourner

1. to turn (left, right etc.)
2. to stir (e.g. ingredients)
3. to tour, to go on tour
4. (film) to film, to shoot a film
5. (computing, transitive, intransitive) to run, to execute (a program, an application etc.)

   Faire tourner un programme sur son ordinateur.

   To run a program on one's computer.

6. to lathe
7. to go bad (food)

Conjugation

Conjugation of tourner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tourner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tournant /tuʁ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tourné /tuʁ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tourne /tuʁn/	tournes /tuʁn/	tourne /tuʁn/	tournons /tuʁ.nɔ̃/	tournez /tuʁ.ne/	tournent /tuʁn/
	imperfect	tournais /tuʁ.nɛ/	tournais /tuʁ.nɛ/	tournait /tuʁ.nɛ/	tournions /tuʁ.njɔ̃/	tourniez /tuʁ.nje/	tournaient /tuʁ.nɛ/
	past historic2	tournai /tuʁ.ne/	tournas /tuʁ.na/	tourna /tuʁ.na/	tournâmes /tuʁ.nam/	tournâtes /tuʁ.nat/	tournèrent /tuʁ.nɛʁ/
	future	tournerai /tuʁ.nə.ʁe/	tourneras /tuʁ.nə.ʁa/	tournera /tuʁ.nə.ʁa/	tournerons /tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/	tournerez /tuʁ.nə.ʁe/	tourneront /tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tournerais /tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	tournerais /tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	tournerait /tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	tournerions /tuʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	tourneriez /tuʁ.nə.ʁje/	tourneraient /tuʁ.nə.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	tourne /tuʁn/	tournes /tuʁn/	tourne /tuʁn/	tournions /tuʁ.njɔ̃/	tourniez /tuʁ.nje/	tournent /tuʁn/
	imperfect2	tournasse /tuʁ.nas/	tournasses /tuʁ.nas/	tournât /tuʁ.na/	tournassions /tuʁ.na.sjɔ̃/	tournassiez /tuʁ.na.sje/	tournassent /tuʁ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tourne /tuʁn/	—	tournons /tuʁ.nɔ̃/	tournez /tuʁ.ne/	—
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

• avoir la tête qui tourne
• avoir l’esprit mal tourné
• détourner
• faire tourner en bourrique
• faire tourner le monde
• la roue tourne
• ne pas tourner rond
• œuf tourné
• se tourner les pouces
• tournage
• tournée
• tourner à vide
• tourner au vinaigre
• tourner autour du pot
• tourner bride
• tourner casaque
• tourner court
• tourner de l’œil
• tourner en dérision
• tourner en ridicule
• tourner en rond
• tourner la page
• tourner le dos
• tourner les talons
• tourner sa langue sept fois dans sa bouche
• tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche
• tournure

 

Descendants

• → Spanish: turnar
  • → Portuguese: turno
• ⇒ Italian: turno

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• rueront

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French torner.

Verb

tourner

1. (intransitive) to turn (to rotate)
2. (intransitive) to return (to go back)
3. (tourner a) to turn into; to change into

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of tourner

infinitive	simple	tourner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	tournant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		tourné
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tourne	tournes	tourne	tournons	tournez	tournent
	imperfect	tournois, tournoys	tournois, tournoys	tournoit, tournoyt	tournions, tournyons	tourniez, tournyez	tournoient, tournoyent
	past historic	tourna	tournas	tourna	tournasmes	tournastes	tournerent
	future	tournerai, tourneray	tourneras	tournera	tournerons	tournerez	tourneront
	conditional	tournerois, tourneroys	tournerois, tourneroys	tourneroit, tourneroyt	tournerions, tourneryons	tourneriez, tourneryez	tourneroient, tourneroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	tourne	tournes	tourne	tournons	tournez	tournent
	imperfect	tournasse	tournasses	tournast	tournassions	tournassiez	tournassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tourne	—	tournons	tournez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: tourner

References

• tourner on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French torner, from Latin tornō, tornāre, from tornus (“lathe”), from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “carpenter's tool for drawing a circle; turning lathe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuːʀ.ne/

Verb

tourner

1. (intransitive) to turn