attraper

French

Etymology

From Middle French attraper, from Old French atraper (compare also Old French antraper), equivalent to a- +‎ trapper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.tʁa.pe/

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Verb

attraper

1. to trap (to capture in a trap)

   Synonym: piéger

   Le renard s’est enfin laissé attraper au piège.

   The fox finally got caught in the trap.

2. to catch (e.g. a ball)

   Synonyms: prendre, saisir

3. (figurative) to catch (a cold etc.)

   Synonym: contracter

   attraper un rhume, une fièvre ― to catch a cold, a fever

Conjugation

Conjugation of attraper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	attraper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	attrapant /a.tʁa.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		attrapé /a.tʁa.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	attrape /a.tʁap/	attrapes /a.tʁap/	attrape /a.tʁap/	attrapons /a.tʁa.pɔ̃/	attrapez /a.tʁa.pe/	attrapent /a.tʁap/
	imperfect	attrapais /a.tʁa.pɛ/	attrapais /a.tʁa.pɛ/	attrapait /a.tʁa.pɛ/	attrapions /a.tʁa.pjɔ̃/	attrapiez /a.tʁa.pje/	attrapaient /a.tʁa.pɛ/
	past historic2	attrapai /a.tʁa.pe/	attrapas /a.tʁa.pa/	attrapa /a.tʁa.pa/	attrapâmes /a.tʁa.pam/	attrapâtes /a.tʁa.pat/	attrapèrent /a.tʁa.pɛʁ/
	future	attraperai /a.tʁa.pʁe/	attraperas /a.tʁa.pʁa/	attrapera /a.tʁa.pʁa/	attraperons /a.tʁa.pʁɔ̃/	attraperez /a.tʁa.pʁe/	attraperont /a.tʁa.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	attraperais /a.tʁa.pʁɛ/	attraperais /a.tʁa.pʁɛ/	attraperait /a.tʁa.pʁɛ/	attraperions /a.tʁa.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	attraperiez /a.tʁa.pə.ʁje/	attraperaient /a.tʁa.pʁɛ/
(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	attrape /a.tʁap/	attrapes /a.tʁap/	attrape /a.tʁap/	attrapions /a.tʁa.pjɔ̃/	attrapiez /a.tʁa.pje/	attrapent /a.tʁap/
	imperfect2	attrapasse /a.tʁa.pas/	attrapasses /a.tʁa.pas/	attrapât /a.tʁa.pa/	attrapassions /a.tʁa.pa.sjɔ̃/	attrapassiez /a.tʁa.pa.sje/	attrapassent /a.tʁa.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	attrape /a.tʁap/	—	attrapons /a.tʁa.pɔ̃/	attrapez /a.tʁa.pe/	—
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

• attraper froid
• attraper la grosse tête
• rattraper

Descendants

• → Catalan: atrapar
• → Spanish: atrapar

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• rattrape, rattrapé