branler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French bransler, from Old French bransler (“to shake (a sword at), move”), a contracted form of brandeler (“to wobble”), from Vulgar Latin *brandus (“firebrand, flaming sword, sword”), ultimately from Frankish *brand (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“burning, flash, firebrand, flaming sword”). Compare brandish.

The supposed intermediary form, Late Latin *brandulare, also from Proto-West Germanic *brand (“sword”), is unlikely given that the suffix -ulāre had already fallen into disuse (i.e. was no longer productive) at the time of borrowing.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bʁɑ̃.le/
Audio: (file)
Audio (Canada): (file)

Verb

branler

(transitive) to shake
(transitive, vulgar) to touch (some work)
Comme il n’a rien branlé, il reste encore la moitié du boulot à faire.
Since he hasn't touched anything, there's still half the work left to do.
(transitive, vulgar, slang) to do
Synonyms: foutre, glander, fabriquer

Qu’est-ce que tu branles ?
What the fuck are you up to?
(transitive, vulgar, slang) to masturbate (another person)
Il m’a branlé, puis j’ai joui.
He wanked me off, then I came.
(reflexive, vulgar, se branler) to masturbate
Samedi je vais me branler toute la journée.
On Saturday I’m gonna jerk it all day.

Conjugation

Conjugation of branler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	avoir past participle
infinitive	simple	branler
present participle or gerund¹	simple	branlant /bʁɑ̃.lɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant past participle
past participle		branlé /bʁɑ̃.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branles /bʁɑ̃l/	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branlons /bʁɑ̃.lɔ̃/	branlez /bʁɑ̃.le/	branlent /bʁɑ̃l/
	imperfect	branlais /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/	branlais /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/	branlait /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/	branlions /bʁɑ̃.ljɔ̃/	branliez /bʁɑ̃.lje/	branlaient /bʁɑ̃.lɛ/
	past historic²	branlai /bʁɑ̃.le/	branlas /bʁɑ̃.la/	branla /bʁɑ̃.la/	branlâmes /bʁɑ̃.lam/	branlâtes /bʁɑ̃.lat/	branlèrent /bʁɑ̃.lɛʁ/
	future	branlerai /bʁɑ̃l.ʁe/	branleras /bʁɑ̃l.ʁa/	branlera /bʁɑ̃l.ʁa/	branlerons /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɔ̃/	branlerez /bʁɑ̃l.ʁe/	branleront /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	branlerais /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/	branlerais /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/	branlerait /bʁɑ̃l.ʁɛ/	branlerions /bʁɑ̃.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	branleriez /bʁɑ̃.lə.ʁje/	branleraient /bʁɑ̃l.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	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branles /bʁɑ̃l/	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	branlions /bʁɑ̃.ljɔ̃/	branliez /bʁɑ̃.lje/	branlent /bʁɑ̃l/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	branlasse /bʁɑ̃.las/	branlasses /bʁɑ̃.las/	branlât /bʁɑ̃.la/	branlassions /bʁɑ̃.la.sjɔ̃/	branlassiez /bʁɑ̃.la.sje/	branlassent /bʁɑ̃.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	branle /bʁɑ̃l/	—	branlons /bʁɑ̃.lɔ̃/	branlez /bʁɑ̃.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).

Derived terms