secouer

French

Etymology

From Old French secorre or secourre, from Latin succutiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə.kwe/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

secouer

1. (transitive) to shake
2. (transitive) to shake off (oppression etc.)
3. (transitive) to shake (emotionally, figuratively)
4. (transitive) to shake up
5. (reflexive, literary) to shake (oneself)
6. (reflexive, colloquial) to make an effort

Conjugation

Conjugation of secouer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	secouer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	secouant /sə.kwɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		secoué /sə.kwe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	secoue /sə.ku/	secoues /sə.ku/	secoue /sə.ku/	secouons /sə.kwɔ̃/	secouez /sə.kwe/	secouent /sə.ku/
	imperfect	secouais /sə.kwɛ/	secouais /sə.kwɛ/	secouait /sə.kwɛ/	secouions /sə.ku.jɔ̃/	secouiez /sə.ku.je/	secouaient /sə.kwɛ/
	past historic2	secouai /sə.kwe/	secouas /sə.kwa/	secoua /sə.kwa/	secouâmes /sə.kwam/	secouâtes /sə.kwat/	secouèrent /sə.kwɛʁ/
	future	secouerai /sə.ku.ʁe/	secoueras /sə.ku.ʁa/	secouera /sə.ku.ʁa/	secouerons /sə.ku.ʁɔ̃/	secouerez /sə.ku.ʁe/	secoueront /sə.ku.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	secouerais /sə.ku.ʁɛ/	secouerais /sə.ku.ʁɛ/	secouerait /sə.ku.ʁɛ/	secouerions /sə.ku.ʁjɔ̃/	secoueriez /sə.ku.ʁje/	secoueraient /sə.ku.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	secoue /sə.ku/	secoues /sə.ku/	secoue /sə.ku/	secouions /sə.ku.jɔ̃/	secouiez /sə.ku.je/	secouent /sə.ku/
	imperfect2	secouasse /sə.kwas/	secouasses /sə.kwas/	secouât /sə.kwa/	secouassions /sə.kwa.sjɔ̃/	secouassiez /sə.kwa.sje/	secouassent /sə.kwas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	secoue /sə.ku/	—	secouons /sə.kwɔ̃/	secouez /sə.kwe/	—
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

• rien à secouer
• secouer le cocotier
• secouer les puces

Related terms

• secousse

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• coursée, écroues, secoure