braquer

French

Etymology

Uncertain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁa.ke/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

braquer

1. to point (a gun, camera etc.) [with sur or vers ‘at someone, something’]
2. to turn (one’s eyes) [with sur or vers ‘to someone, something’]
3. to make a hard turn, turn hard
4. (colloquial) to stick up, rob (a bank)
   • 1968, Serge Gainsbourg, “Bonnie and Clyde”, in Initials B.B., performed by Serge Gainsbourg ft. Brigitte Bardot:

     Chaque fois qu'un policeman se fait buter / Qu'un garage ou qu'une banque se fait braquer

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (reflexive) to get one's back up, feel defensive, balk
   • 2014, Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule [The End of Eddy], Le Seuil:

     Mes parents se braquaient, ils refusaient de prêter attention aux ragots.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of braquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	braquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	braquant /bʁa.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		braqué /bʁa.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	braque /bʁak/	braques /bʁak/	braque /bʁak/	braquons /bʁa.kɔ̃/	braquez /bʁa.ke/	braquent /bʁak/
	imperfect	braquais /bʁa.kɛ/	braquais /bʁa.kɛ/	braquait /bʁa.kɛ/	braquions /bʁa.kjɔ̃/	braquiez /bʁa.kje/	braquaient /bʁa.kɛ/
	past historic2	braquai /bʁa.ke/	braquas /bʁa.ka/	braqua /bʁa.ka/	braquâmes /bʁa.kam/	braquâtes /bʁa.kat/	braquèrent /bʁa.kɛʁ/
	future	braquerai /bʁa.kʁe/	braqueras /bʁa.kʁa/	braquera /bʁa.kʁa/	braquerons /bʁa.kʁɔ̃/	braquerez /bʁa.kʁe/	braqueront /bʁa.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	braquerais /bʁa.kʁɛ/	braquerais /bʁa.kʁɛ/	braquerait /bʁa.kʁɛ/	braquerions /bʁa.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	braqueriez /bʁa.kə.ʁje/	braqueraient /bʁa.kʁɛ/
(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	braque /bʁak/	braques /bʁak/	braque /bʁak/	braquions /bʁa.kjɔ̃/	braquiez /bʁa.kje/	braquent /bʁak/
	imperfect2	braquasse /bʁa.kas/	braquasses /bʁa.kas/	braquât /bʁa.ka/	braquassions /bʁa.ka.sjɔ̃/	braquassiez /bʁa.ka.sje/	braquassent /bʁa.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	braque /bʁak/	—	braquons /bʁa.kɔ̃/	braquez /bʁa.ke/	—
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

• braco
• braquage
• braqueur

Further reading

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