bouleverser

French

Etymology

From boule +‎ verser.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bul.vɛʁ.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

bouleverser

1. to completely and drastically change, to overturn
2. to shake, to cause a strong emotion
3. to disorganize, to turn upside down

Conjugation

Conjugation of bouleverser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	bouleverser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	bouleversant /bul.vɛʁ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		bouleversé /bul.vɛʁ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	bouleverse /bul.vɛʁs/	bouleverses /bul.vɛʁs/	bouleverse /bul.vɛʁs/	bouleversons /bul.vɛʁ.sɔ̃/	bouleversez /bul.vɛʁ.se/	bouleversent /bul.vɛʁs/
	imperfect	bouleversais /bul.vɛʁ.sɛ/	bouleversais /bul.vɛʁ.sɛ/	bouleversait /bul.vɛʁ.sɛ/	bouleversions /bul.vɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	bouleversiez /bul.vɛʁ.sje/	bouleversaient /bul.vɛʁ.sɛ/
	past historic2	bouleversai /bul.vɛʁ.se/	bouleversas /bul.vɛʁ.sa/	bouleversa /bul.vɛʁ.sa/	bouleversâmes /bul.vɛʁ.sam/	bouleversâtes /bul.vɛʁ.sat/	bouleversèrent /bul.vɛʁ.sɛʁ/
	future	bouleverserai /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	bouleverseras /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	bouleversera /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	bouleverserons /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/	bouleverserez /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	bouleverseront /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	bouleverserais /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	bouleverserais /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	bouleverserait /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	bouleverserions /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	bouleverseriez /bul.vɛʁ.sə.ʁje/	bouleverseraient /bul.vɛʁ.sə.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	bouleverse /bul.vɛʁs/	bouleverses /bul.vɛʁs/	bouleverse /bul.vɛʁs/	bouleversions /bul.vɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	bouleversiez /bul.vɛʁ.sje/	bouleversent /bul.vɛʁs/
	imperfect2	bouleversasse /bul.vɛʁ.sas/	bouleversasses /bul.vɛʁ.sas/	bouleversât /bul.vɛʁ.sa/	bouleversassions /bul.vɛʁ.sa.sjɔ̃/	bouleversassiez /bul.vɛʁ.sa.sje/	bouleversassent /bul.vɛʁ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	bouleverse /bul.vɛʁs/	—	bouleversons /bul.vɛʁ.sɔ̃/	bouleversez /bul.vɛʁ.se/	—
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).

Related terms

• bouleversement

Further reading

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