piocher
French
Etymology
From pioche (“pickaxe”).
Pronunciation
Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)): (file) Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (France (Somain)): (file)
Verb
piocher
- to use a pickaxe
- to cram, to swot, to grind (e.g., for an exam)
- to slog away, drudge (to work very hard)
- to pick, choose, select from a set of options
- (card games) to draw from the deck
Conjugation
Conjugation of piocher (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | piocher | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | piochant /pjɔ.ʃɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | pioché /pjɔ.ʃe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | pioche /pjɔʃ/ |
pioches /pjɔʃ/ |
pioche /pjɔʃ/ |
piochons /pjɔ.ʃɔ̃/ |
piochez /pjɔ.ʃe/ |
piochent /pjɔʃ/ |
| imperfect | piochais /pjɔ.ʃɛ/ |
piochais /pjɔ.ʃɛ/ |
piochait /pjɔ.ʃɛ/ |
piochions /pjɔ.ʃjɔ̃/ |
piochiez /pjɔ.ʃje/ |
piochaient /pjɔ.ʃɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | piochai /pjɔ.ʃe/ |
piochas /pjɔ.ʃa/ |
piocha /pjɔ.ʃa/ |
piochâmes /pjɔ.ʃam/ |
piochâtes /pjɔ.ʃat/ |
piochèrent /pjɔ.ʃɛʁ/ | |
| future | piocherai /pjɔʃ.ʁe/ |
piocheras /pjɔʃ.ʁa/ |
piochera /pjɔʃ.ʁa/ |
piocherons /pjɔʃ.ʁɔ̃/ |
piocherez /pjɔʃ.ʁe/ |
piocheront /pjɔʃ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | piocherais /pjɔʃ.ʁɛ/ |
piocherais /pjɔʃ.ʁɛ/ |
piocherait /pjɔʃ.ʁɛ/ |
piocherions /pjɔ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
piocheriez /pjɔ.ʃə.ʁje/ |
piocheraient /pjɔʃ.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 | pioche /pjɔʃ/ |
pioches /pjɔʃ/ |
pioche /pjɔʃ/ |
piochions /pjɔ.ʃjɔ̃/ |
piochiez /pjɔ.ʃje/ |
piochent /pjɔʃ/ |
| imperfect2 | piochasse /pjɔ.ʃas/ |
piochasses /pjɔ.ʃas/ |
piochât /pjɔ.ʃa/ |
piochassions /pjɔ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ |
piochassiez /pjɔ.ʃa.sje/ |
piochassent /pjɔ.ʃas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | pioche /pjɔʃ/ |
— | piochons /pjɔ.ʃɔ̃/ |
piochez /pjɔ.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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Further reading
- “piocher”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.