toucher
English
Etymology
From Middle English toucher, equivalent to touch + -er. The pejorative sense is derived from the sense of "touching" someone for money.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ʌtʃə(ɹ)
Noun
toucher (plural touchers)
French
Etymology
From Middle French toucher, touchier, from Old French tochier, touchier, tucher (compare French doublet toquer, from unattested Vulgar Latin *toccāre (“to knock, strike, offend”), from Frankish *tokkōn, *tukkōn (“to touch”), from Proto-Germanic *tukkōną, *tukkijaną (“to jerk, knock, strike, offend”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to lead, pull, draw”), influenced by proximity to similar forms from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”). Cognate with Old High German zochhōn (“to grasp, seize”), Old High German zuchôn (“to jerk, tug”), Middle Low German tucken (“to tug”), Old Dutch tocken, tucken (“to touch, entise”), Old English tucian, tūcian (“to mistreat, disturb, torment”), Gothic 𐍄𐌴𐌺𐌰𐌽 (tēkan, “to touch”), Old Norse taka (“to touch grasp”), Old English tacan (“to touch, take”).
Pronunciation
Noun
toucher m (plural touchers)
Verb
toucher
- (transitive) To touch (physically).
- Ne me touche pas ! ― Don't touch me!
- (transitive) To affect
- La maladie touche actuellement 2 millions de personnes. ― The disease currently affects 2 million people.
- (intransitive, followed by "à") To try, to try out.
- Je n'ai jamais touché au tabac. ― I've never tried tobacco.
- (intransitive, colloquial) Short for toucher sa bille. To be skillful.
- Ce mec est un ancien critique d'art. Je peux te dire qu'il touche en peinture ! ― This guy is a former art critic. Believe me, he knows a thing or two about painting!
- (transitive, money, income) to receive, to get
Conjugation
present participle | touchant /tu.ʃɑ̃/ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
past participle | touché /tu.ʃe/ | ||||||
infinitive | |||||||
simple | toucher | ||||||
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
gerund1 | |||||||
simple | touchant /tu.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 | touche /tuʃ/ |
touches /tuʃ/ |
touche /tuʃ/ |
touchons /tu.ʃɔ̃/ |
touchez /tu.ʃe/ |
touchent /tuʃ/ |
imperfect | touchais /tu.ʃɛ/ |
touchais /tu.ʃɛ/ |
touchait /tu.ʃɛ/ |
touchions /tu.ʃjɔ̃/ |
touchiez /tu.ʃje/ |
touchaient /tu.ʃɛ/ | |
past historic2 | touchai /tu.ʃe/ |
touchas /tu.ʃa/ |
toucha /tu.ʃa/ |
touchâmes /tu.ʃam/ |
touchâtes /tu.ʃat/ |
touchèrent /tu.ʃɛʁ/ | |
future | toucherai /tuʃ.ʁe/ |
toucheras /tuʃ.ʁa/ |
touchera /tuʃ.ʁa/ |
toucherons /tuʃ.ʁɔ̃/ |
toucherez /tuʃ.ʁe/ |
toucheront /tuʃ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | toucherais /tuʃ.ʁɛ/ |
toucherais /tuʃ.ʁɛ/ |
toucherait /tuʃ.ʁɛ/ |
toucherions /tu.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
toucheriez /tu.ʃə.ʁje/ |
toucheraient /tuʃ.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 | touche /tuʃ/ |
touches /tuʃ/ |
touche /tuʃ/ |
touchions /tu.ʃjɔ̃/ |
touchiez /tu.ʃje/ |
touchent /tuʃ/ |
imperfect2 | touchasse /tu.ʃas/ |
touchasses /tu.ʃas/ |
touchât /tu.ʃa/ |
touchassions /tu.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ |
touchassiez /tu.ʃa.sje/ |
touchassent /tu.ʃas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | touche /tuʃ/ |
— | touchons /tu.ʃɔ̃/ |
touchez /tu.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). |
Descendants
- → Dutch: toucheren
References
- Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition
Further reading
- “toucher” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle French
Conjugation
- Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
simple | compound | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | toucher | avoir touché | |||||
gerund | en touchant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
present participle | touchant | ||||||
past participle | touché | ||||||
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 | touche | touches | touche | touchons | touchez | touchent |
imperfect | touchois, touchoys | touchois, touchoys | touchoit, touchoyt | touchions, touchyons | touchiez, touchyez | touchoient, touchoyent | |
past historic | toucha | touchas | toucha | touchasmes | touchastes | toucherent | |
future | toucherai, toucheray | toucheras | touchera | toucherons | toucherez | toucheront | |
conditional | toucherois, toucheroys | toucherois, toucheroys | toucheroit, toucheroyt | toucherions, toucheryons | toucheriez, toucheryez | toucheroient, toucheroyent | |
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 | touche | touches | touche | touchons | touchez | touchent |
imperfect | touchasse | touchasses | touchast | touchassions | touchassiez | touchassent | |
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 | – | |
— | touche | — | touchons | touchez | — |
Descendants
- French: toucher