brûler

See also: bruler

French

Alternative forms

• bruler (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French brusler, from Old French brusler, bruller (“to burn”), probably an enhanced form of usler (“to scorch”), from Latin ustulāre. Cognate with dialectal Italian brustolare. The initial br- may be compared to Italian bruciare, but the further origin is uncertain. One or more of the following may have contributed: (1) Old French bruir (“to burn”), from Frankish *brōjan (“to scald, sear”); (2) Latin ambūrere, combūrere (“to burn”) and their participles ambustus, combustus; (3) a Gaulish cognate of Old Irish bruth (“boiling heat”). The words in 1 and 3 are from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁy.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

brûler

1. (transitive, intransitive) to burn

   La maison des voisins a brûlé.

   The neighbors' house has burnt down.

   Ils sont en train de brûler un tas de feuilles mortes.

   They are burning a heap of dead leaves.

2. (reflexive) to burn oneself

   Je me suis brûlé avec une ampoule.

   I burnt myself on a light bulb.

3. (figurative, transitive) to pass an obstacle, to blow (through or past), to run
   • 2022 February 26, Stéphanie Chayet, “Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida… Aux origines françaises du « wokisme »”, in Le Monde‎^[1]:

     New York, novembre 1975. La plus grande ville américaine vient d’échapper de justesse à la faillite. Les taxis de nuit brûlent les feux rouges pour éviter les braquages, les poubelles s’entassent, la classe moyenne a pris le large.

     New York, November 1975. America's biggest city has just narrowly escaped bankruptcy. At night, taxis run red lights to avoid being robbed. Trash is piling up, and the middle classes have headed for the hills.

Conjugation

Conjugation of brûler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	brûler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	brûlant /bʁy.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		brûlé /bʁy.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	brûle /bʁyl/	brûles /bʁyl/	brûle /bʁyl/	brûlons /bʁy.lɔ̃/	brûlez /bʁy.le/	brûlent /bʁyl/
	imperfect	brûlais /bʁy.lɛ/	brûlais /bʁy.lɛ/	brûlait /bʁy.lɛ/	brûlions /bʁy.ljɔ̃/	brûliez /bʁy.lje/	brûlaient /bʁy.lɛ/
	past historic2	brûlai /bʁy.le/	brûlas /bʁy.la/	brûla /bʁy.la/	brûlâmes /bʁy.lam/	brûlâtes /bʁy.lat/	brûlèrent /bʁy.lɛʁ/
	future	brûlerai /bʁyl.ʁe/	brûleras /bʁyl.ʁa/	brûlera /bʁyl.ʁa/	brûlerons /bʁyl.ʁɔ̃/	brûlerez /bʁyl.ʁe/	brûleront /bʁyl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	brûlerais /bʁyl.ʁɛ/	brûlerais /bʁyl.ʁɛ/	brûlerait /bʁyl.ʁɛ/	brûlerions /bʁy.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	brûleriez /bʁy.lə.ʁje/	brûleraient /bʁyl.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	brûle /bʁyl/	brûles /bʁyl/	brûle /bʁyl/	brûlions /bʁy.ljɔ̃/	brûliez /bʁy.lje/	brûlent /bʁyl/
	imperfect2	brûlasse /bʁy.las/	brûlasses /bʁy.las/	brûlât /bʁy.la/	brûlassions /bʁy.la.sjɔ̃/	brûlassiez /bʁy.la.sje/	brûlassent /bʁy.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	brûle /bʁyl/	—	brûlons /bʁy.lɔ̃/	brûlez /bʁy.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).

Synonyms

• ardre (archaic)

Derived terms

• à brûle-pourpoint
• brûlage
• brûlant
• brûle
• brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts
• brûler la politesse
• brûler le dur
• brûler les étapes
• brûler les lèvres
• brûleur
• brûlure
• terre brûlée

 

Descendants

• Esperanto: bruli
• Haitian Creole: boule

Further reading

• “brûler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “brûler” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “brûler” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.

Norman

Alternative forms

• brulaïr (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French brusler (“to burn”).

Verb

brûler (gerund brûl'lie)

1. (Jersey) to burn