chercher

French

Etymology

From Middle French chercher, cercher, altered from Old French cerchier through assimilation, from Late Latin circāre, present active infinitive of circō, from Latin circa, circus.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ʃɛʁ.ʃe/
  • audio(file)

Verb

chercher

  1. (transitive) to look for, to seek
    Je cherche du boulot.
    I'm looking for some work.
  2. (intransitive, followed by à) to look (to do something)
    Chercher à expliquer ce phénomène.
    Look to explain this phenomenon.
  3. (transitive, slang) to mess with someone, ask for trouble
    Tu me cherches ou quoi ?
  4. (transitive) to pick up, to go and get

Conjugation
Conjugation of chercher (see also Appendix:French verbs)
present participle cherchant
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɑ̃/
past participle cherché
/ʃɛʁ.ʃe/
infinitive
simple chercher
compound avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple cherchant
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present cherche
/ʃɛʁʃ/		 cherches
/ʃɛʁʃ/		 cherche
/ʃɛʁʃ/		 cherchons
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɔ̃/		 cherchez
/ʃɛʁ.ʃe/		 cherchent
/ʃɛʁʃ/
imperfect cherchais
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/		 cherchais
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/		 cherchait
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/		 cherchions
/ʃɛʁ.ʃjɔ̃/		 cherchiez
/ʃɛʁ.ʃje/		 cherchaient
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ/
past historic2 cherchai
/ʃɛʁ.ʃe/		 cherchas
/ʃɛʁ.ʃa/		 chercha
/ʃɛʁ.ʃa/		 cherchâmes
/ʃɛʁ.ʃam/		 cherchâtes
/ʃɛʁ.ʃat/		 cherchèrent
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɛʁ/
future chercherai
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁe/		 chercheras
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁa/		 cherchera
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁa/		 chercherons
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɔ̃/		 chercherez
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁe/		 chercheront
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɔ̃/
conditional chercherais
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/		 chercherais
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/		 chercherait
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁɛ/		 chercherions
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/		 chercheriez
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.ʁje/		 chercheraient
/ʃɛʁ.ʃə.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 cherche
/ʃɛʁʃ/		 cherches
/ʃɛʁʃ/		 cherche
/ʃɛʁʃ/		 cherchions
/ʃɛʁ.ʃjɔ̃/		 cherchiez
/ʃɛʁ.ʃje/		 cherchent
/ʃɛʁʃ/
imperfect2 cherchasse
/ʃɛʁ.ʃas/		 cherchasses
/ʃɛʁ.ʃas/		 cherchât
/ʃɛʁ.ʃa/		 cherchassions
/ʃɛʁ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/		 cherchassiez
/ʃɛʁ.ʃa.sje/		 cherchassent
/ʃɛʁ.ʃas/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — cherche
/ʃɛʁʃ/		 — cherchons
/ʃɛʁ.ʃɔ̃/		 cherchez
/ʃɛʁ.ʃe/		 —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

Further reading

Middle French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From an alteration of Old French cerchier, sercher, cercier, cercer through assimilation.

Verb

chercher

  1. to search for; to look for

Conjugation
  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
   Conjugation of chercher
simple compound
infinitive chercher avoir cherché
gerund en cherchant Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle cherchant
past participle cherché
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (may be i' before a vowel) tu il nous vous ilz, elles
simple
tenses		 present cherche cherches cherche cherchons cherchez cherchent
imperfect cherchois, cherchoys cherchois, cherchoys cherchoit, cherchoyt cherchions, cherchyons cherchiez, cherchyez cherchoient, cherchoyent
past historic chercha cherchas chercha cherchasmes cherchastes chercherent
future chercherai, chercheray chercheras cherchera chercherons chercherez chercheront
conditional chercherois, chercheroys chercherois, chercheroys chercheroit, chercheroyt chercherions, chercheryons chercheriez, chercheryez chercheroient, chercheroyent
compound
tenses		 present perfect Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
past anterior Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
future perfect Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
conditional perfect Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive que ie que tu qu'il que nous que vous qu'ilz, qu'elles
simple
tenses		 present cherche cherches cherche cherchons cherchez cherchent
imperfect cherchasse cherchasses cherchast cherchassions cherchassiez cherchassent
compound
tenses		 past Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
— cherche — cherchons cherchez —

Descendants
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