sécher

See also: secher

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French secher, sechier, from Latin siccāre. By surface analysis, sec +‎ -ir.

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

Verb

sécher

  1. (ergative) to dry
    Antonym: mouiller
  2. (informal) to play truant
    Synonyms: faire l’école buissonnière, (Belgium) brosser, (Moselle) faire bleu, bleuter
  3. (intransitive, informal) to dry up, to run out of things to say
  4. to fail
    Synonym: buser

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written sécher-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written sècher-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

Conjugation of sécher (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple sécher
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple séchant
/se.ʃɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle séché
/se.ʃe/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present sèche
/sɛʃ/		 sèches
/sɛʃ/		 sèche
/sɛʃ/		 séchons
/se.ʃɔ̃/		 séchez
/se.ʃe/		 sèchent
/sɛʃ/
imperfect séchais
/se.ʃɛ/		 séchais
/se.ʃɛ/		 séchait
/se.ʃɛ/		 séchions
/se.ʃjɔ̃/		 séchiez
/se.ʃje/		 séchaient
/se.ʃɛ/
past historic2 séchai
/se.ʃe/		 séchas
/se.ʃa/		 sécha
/se.ʃa/		 séchâmes
/se.ʃam/		 séchâtes
/se.ʃat/		 séchèrent
/se.ʃɛʁ/
future sècherai or sécherai
/sɛʃ.ʁe/		 sècheras or sécheras
/sɛʃ.ʁa/		 sèchera or séchera
/sɛʃ.ʁa/		 sècherons or sécherons
/sɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/		 sècherez or sécherez
/sɛʃ.ʁe/		 sècheront or sécheront
/sɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/
conditional sècherais or sécherais
/sɛʃ.ʁɛ/		 sècherais or sécherais
/sɛʃ.ʁɛ/		 sècherait or sécherait
/sɛʃ.ʁɛ/		 sècherions or sécherions
/sɛ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /se.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/		 sècheriez or sécheriez
/sɛ.ʃə.ʁje/ or /se.ʃə.ʁje/		 sècheraient or sécheraient
/sɛʃ.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 sèche
/sɛʃ/		 sèches
/sɛʃ/		 sèche
/sɛʃ/		 séchions
/se.ʃjɔ̃/		 séchiez
/se.ʃje/		 sèchent
/sɛʃ/
imperfect2 séchasse
/se.ʃas/		 séchasses
/se.ʃas/		 séchât
/se.ʃa/		 séchassions
/se.ʃa.sjɔ̃/		 séchassiez
/se.ʃa.sje/		 séchassent
/se.ʃas/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — sèche
/sɛʃ/		 — séchons
/se.ʃɔ̃/		 séchez
/se.ʃe/		 —
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

Further reading

Anagrams

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German sicher, from Old High German sihhur, from Proto-West Germanic *sikur, from Latin sēcūrus.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈzeχer/, [ˈzəɕɐ]

Adjective

sécher (masculine sécheren, neuter séchert, comparative méi sécher, superlative am séchersten)

  1. sure, certain, confident
  2. safe, secure

Declension
declension of sécher
number and gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter all genders
predicative hien ass sécher si ass sécher et ass sécher si si(nn) sécher
nominative /
accusative		 attributive and/or after determiner sécheren sécher séchert sécher
independent without determiner sécheres sécherer
dative after any declined word sécheren sécherer sécheren sécheren
as first declined word sécherem sécherem

Adverb

sécher

  1. surely, certainly
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