gratter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French gratter, from Old French gratter, grater, borrowed from Frankish *kratton, from Proto-Germanic *krattōną, from Proto-Indo-European *gred-, see also Albanian gërresë (“rasp, scraper”), German kratzen (“to scratch”), Swedish kratta (“to rake”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁa.te/

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Verb

gratter

1. to scrub
2. to scrape
3. (transitive) to scratch
4. (intransitive, informal) to itch

   Ça gratte. ― It itches.

5. (informal) to play the guitar

Conjugation

Conjugation of gratter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	gratter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	grattant /ɡʁa.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		gratté /ɡʁa.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	gratte /ɡʁat/	grattes /ɡʁat/	gratte /ɡʁat/	grattons /ɡʁa.tɔ̃/	grattez /ɡʁa.te/	grattent /ɡʁat/
	imperfect	grattais /ɡʁa.tɛ/	grattais /ɡʁa.tɛ/	grattait /ɡʁa.tɛ/	grattions /ɡʁa.tjɔ̃/	grattiez /ɡʁa.tje/	grattaient /ɡʁa.tɛ/
	past historic2	grattai /ɡʁa.te/	grattas /ɡʁa.ta/	gratta /ɡʁa.ta/	grattâmes /ɡʁa.tam/	grattâtes /ɡʁa.tat/	grattèrent /ɡʁa.tɛʁ/
	future	gratterai /ɡʁa.tʁe/	gratteras /ɡʁa.tʁa/	grattera /ɡʁa.tʁa/	gratterons /ɡʁa.tʁɔ̃/	gratterez /ɡʁa.tʁe/	gratteront /ɡʁa.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	gratterais /ɡʁa.tʁɛ/	gratterais /ɡʁa.tʁɛ/	gratterait /ɡʁa.tʁɛ/	gratterions /ɡʁa.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	gratteriez /ɡʁa.tə.ʁje/	gratteraient /ɡʁa.tʁɛ/
(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	gratte /ɡʁat/	grattes /ɡʁat/	gratte /ɡʁat/	grattions /ɡʁa.tjɔ̃/	grattiez /ɡʁa.tje/	grattent /ɡʁat/
	imperfect2	grattasse /ɡʁa.tas/	grattasses /ɡʁa.tas/	grattât /ɡʁa.ta/	grattassions /ɡʁa.ta.sjɔ̃/	grattassiez /ɡʁa.ta.sje/	grattassent /ɡʁa.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	gratte /ɡʁat/	—	grattons /ɡʁa.tɔ̃/	grattez /ɡʁa.te/	—
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

• grattage
• gratte-ciel
• gratte-cul
• gratte-dos
• poil à gratter

Further reading

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

Norman

Etymology

From Old French grater (whence also French gratter, English grate (verb)), borrowed from Frankish *kratton, from Proto-Germanic *krattōną.

Verb

gratter

1. (Jersey) to grate