Welcome back to our weekly blog! Are you looking forward to learning about another French word? In this edition, we’re looking at the verb appuyer.
You can hear how to pronounce the infinitive by pressing on the audio clip below:
<audio clip>
When it comes to the meaning of appuyer, there are some interesting changes to consider when translating this verb transitively and intransitively. In its transitive use – meaning the verb needs a direct object to make sense – appuyer means ‘to lean (on)’, ‘to rest’ or ‘to support’ something. When it’s an intransitive verb, it means ‘to press’ or ‘to push’, but it can also take some of the transitive uses.
Despite these potential complexities in translation, you’ll be glad to find that it follows the regular conjugation pattern for -er verbs. Well, almost… There are a small group of verbs with slight spelling changes in certain tenses. For more information, go to our Easy Learning French Grammar pages on spelling changes of -yer verbs in the present tense, the future tense and conditional tense.
We’ll start with some examples to illustrate the transitive use of the verb appuyer:
appuyer quelque chose sur to lean/to rest something on
appuyer quelque chose à to lean/to rest something on
appuyer quelque chose contre to lean/to rest something against
Tu peux appuyer la cuillère sur l’évier. You can rest the spoon on the sink.
J’ai appuyé ma guitare contre le mur. I leaned my guitar against the wall.
On to our intransitive version of appuyer, where the subject of each example is doing the action:
appuyer fort to press/push hard
C’est cassé ! Vous avez appuyé trop fort. It’s broken! You pressed too hard.
Est-ce qu’on peut appuyer sur le bouton ? Can we press/push the button?
Appuyez ici. Press here.
Quand elle parle, elle appuie sur certains mots. When she speaks, she puts emphasis on certain words.
Les ours s’appuyaient sur les gros arbres au bord de la rivière. The bears were leaning/resting themselves on the big trees by the riverside.
Finally, this verb also has a related noun that might be worth knowing about:
appui (m) support
à l’appui de in support of
chercher un appui to look for something to lean on
Ma mère aura besoin d’un appui pour marcher. My mother will need something for mobility support / support for walking / something to lean on for walking.
Sandrine l’a mis à l’appui de la fenêtre. Sandrine put it on the windowsill.
That’s all we have to share with you this week. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the verb appuyer, and feel comfortable trying it out in action soon! You can always lean on us for support in learning new words – see you here again next week.
Written by Holly Tarbet, freelance copywriter and editor.
All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins
