tailler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French taillier, from Late Latin tāliāre, a verb based on Latin tālea (“cutting taken from a plant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.je/ ~ /tɑ.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

tailler

1. (of a suit, garment etc.) to cut
2. to sharpen
3. (pronominal, informal) to do one, to clear off

Conjugation

Conjugation of tailler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tailler
	compound	avoir past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	taillant /ta.jɑ̃/ or /tɑ.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant past participle
past participle		taillé /ta.je/ or /tɑ.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	tailles /taj/ or /tɑj/	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	taillons /ta.jɔ̃/ or /tɑ.jɔ̃/	taillez /ta.je/ or /tɑ.je/	taillent /taj/ or /tɑj/
	imperfect	taillais /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/	taillais /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/	taillait /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/	taillions /taj.jɔ̃/ or /tɑj.jɔ̃/	tailliez /taj.je/ or /tɑj.je/	taillaient /ta.jɛ/ or /tɑ.jɛ/
	past historic2	taillai /ta.je/ or /tɑ.je/	taillas /ta.ja/ or /tɑ.ja/	tailla /ta.ja/ or /tɑ.ja/	taillâmes /ta.jam/ or /tɑ.jam/	taillâtes /ta.jat/ or /tɑ.jat/	taillèrent /ta.jɛʁ/ or /tɑ.jɛʁ/
	future	taillerai /taj.ʁe/ or /tɑj.ʁe/	tailleras /taj.ʁa/ or /tɑj.ʁa/	taillera /taj.ʁa/ or /tɑj.ʁa/	taillerons /taj.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑj.ʁɔ̃/	taillerez /taj.ʁe/ or /tɑj.ʁe/	tailleront /taj.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	taillerais /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.ʁɛ/	taillerais /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.ʁɛ/	taillerait /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.ʁɛ/	taillerions /ta.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	tailleriez /ta.jə.ʁje/ or /tɑ.jə.ʁje/	tailleraient /taj.ʁɛ/ or /tɑj.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	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	tailles /taj/ or /tɑj/	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	taillions /taj.jɔ̃/ or /tɑj.jɔ̃/	tailliez /taj.je/ or /tɑj.je/	taillent /taj/ or /tɑj/
	imperfect2	taillasse /ta.jas/ or /tɑ.jas/	taillasses /ta.jas/ or /tɑ.jas/	taillât /ta.ja/ or /tɑ.ja/	taillassions /ta.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ja.sjɔ̃/	taillassiez /ta.ja.sje/ or /tɑ.ja.sje/	taillassent /ta.jas/ or /tɑ.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	taille /taj/ or /tɑj/	—	taillons /ta.jɔ̃/ or /tɑ.jɔ̃/	taillez /ta.je/ or /tɑ.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).

Synonyms

• (to leave): se barrer, se casser, décamper

Derived terms

• se tailler la part du lion
• tailler dans le gingas
• tailler des croupières
• tailler en pièces
• tailler le bout de gras
• tailler une bavette
• tailler une pipe

 

Related terms

• entailler
• taille
• détailler
• retailler

See also

• couper
• trancher

Further reading

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