écouler

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French

Etymology

From é- +‎ couler, or possibly from Vulgar Latin *excolāre, from Latin cōlāre. Compare Italian scolare, Portuguese escoar, Spanish escolar, Sicilian sculari.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /e.ku.le/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

écouler

  1. (transitive) to sell off, to shift
    Il eut beaucoup de peine à écouler sa marchandise.
    He had great difficulty selling off his merchandise.
  2. (reflexive) to flow
    Le liquide s’écoule. ― The liquid is flowing.
  3. (reflexive, of a crowd) to disband, to scatter
    La foule s’écoule. ― The crowd is disbanding.
  4. (reflexive, of time) to pass, to elapse
    Une année, deux années s’écoulèrent. ― One year, two years passed by.
  5. (reflexive, of one's fortune) to diminish, to dwindle away slowly

Conjugation

Conjugation of écouler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple écouler
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple écoulant
/e.ku.lɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle écoulé
/e.ku.le/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present écoule
/e.kul/ 		écoules
/e.kul/ 		écoule
/e.kul/ 		écoulons
/e.ku.lɔ̃/ 		écoulez
/e.ku.le/ 		écoulent
/e.kul/
imperfect écoulais
/e.ku.lɛ/ 		écoulais
/e.ku.lɛ/ 		écoulait
/e.ku.lɛ/ 		écoulions
/e.ku.ljɔ̃/ 		écouliez
/e.ku.lje/ 		écoulaient
/e.ku.lɛ/
past historic2 écoulai
/e.ku.le/ 		écoulas
/e.ku.la/ 		écoula
/e.ku.la/ 		écoulâmes
/e.ku.lam/ 		écoulâtes
/e.ku.lat/ 		écoulèrent
/e.ku.lɛʁ/
future écoulerai
/e.kul.ʁe/ 		écouleras
/e.kul.ʁa/ 		écoulera
/e.kul.ʁa/ 		écoulerons
/e.kul.ʁɔ̃/ 		écoulerez
/e.kul.ʁe/ 		écouleront
/e.kul.ʁɔ̃/
conditional écoulerais
/e.kul.ʁɛ/ 		écoulerais
/e.kul.ʁɛ/ 		écoulerait
/e.kul.ʁɛ/ 		écoulerions
/e.ku.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		écouleriez
/e.ku.lə.ʁje/ 		écouleraient
/e.kul.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 écoule
/e.kul/ 		écoules
/e.kul/ 		écoule
/e.kul/ 		écoulions
/e.ku.ljɔ̃/ 		écouliez
/e.ku.lje/ 		écoulent
/e.kul/
imperfect2 écoulasse
/e.ku.las/ 		écoulasses
/e.ku.las/ 		écoulât
/e.ku.la/ 		écoulassions
/e.ku.la.sjɔ̃/ 		écoulassiez
/e.ku.la.sje/ 		écoulassent
/e.ku.las/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — écoule
/e.kul/ 		— écoulons
/e.ku.lɔ̃/ 		écoulez
/e.ku.le/ 		—
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 , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

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