tirer

French

Etymology

From Middle French tirer, from Old French tirer, from Vulgar Latin *tīrāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ti.ʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

tirer

1. to draw, drag, pull
2. to shoot
3. to draw (conclusions), to consider (consequences)
4. to leave a place
5. to set free, to deliver
   • 1954, Georges Simenon, Maigret et la jeune morte [Maigret and the Dead Girl]:

     Ils s’imaginent qu’en ne répondant pas, ou qu’en répondant n’importe quoi, quitte à se contredire toutes les cinq minutes, ils parviendront à s’en tirer.

     They imagine they can save themselves by refusing to answer questions—or by answering at random and even contradicting themselves every five minutes.

Conjugation

Conjugation of tirer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tirer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tirant /ti.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tiré /ti.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tire /tiʁ/	tires /tiʁ/	tire /tiʁ/	tirons /ti.ʁɔ̃/	tirez /ti.ʁe/	tirent /tiʁ/
	imperfect	tirais /ti.ʁɛ/	tirais /ti.ʁɛ/	tirait /ti.ʁɛ/	tirions /ti.ʁjɔ̃/	tiriez /ti.ʁje/	tiraient /ti.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	tirai /ti.ʁe/	tiras /ti.ʁa/	tira /ti.ʁa/	tirâmes /ti.ʁam/	tirâtes /ti.ʁat/	tirèrent /ti.ʁɛʁ/
	future	tirerai /ti.ʁə.ʁe/	tireras /ti.ʁə.ʁa/	tirera /ti.ʁə.ʁa/	tirerons /ti.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	tirerez /ti.ʁə.ʁe/	tireront /ti.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tirerais /ti.ʁə.ʁɛ/	tirerais /ti.ʁə.ʁɛ/	tirerait /ti.ʁə.ʁɛ/	tirerions /ti.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	tireriez /ti.ʁə.ʁje/	tireraient /ti.ʁə.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	tire /tiʁ/	tires /tiʁ/	tire /tiʁ/	tirions /ti.ʁjɔ̃/	tiriez /ti.ʁje/	tirent /tiʁ/
	imperfect2	tirasse /ti.ʁas/	tirasses /ti.ʁas/	tirât /ti.ʁa/	tirassions /ti.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	tirassiez /ti.ʁa.sje/	tirassent /ti.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tire /tiʁ/	—	tirons /ti.ʁɔ̃/	tirez /ti.ʁe/	—
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

• à couteaux tirés
• à tire-d’aile
• à tire-larigot
• bon à tirer
• quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire
• retirer
• se tirer sur l’élastique
• se tirer une balle
• tirage
• tiré à quatre épingles
• tiré d’affaire
• tiré par les cheveux
• tire-bouchon
• tire-fond
• tirer à boulets rouges
• tirer à conséquence
• tirer à la courte paille
• tirer à sa fin
• tirer au clair
• tirer au flanc
• tirer au sort
• tirer d’un mauvais pas
• tirer en longueur
• tirer la couverture à soi
• tirer la gueule
• tirer la langue
• tirer la sonnette d’alarme
• tirer la tronche
• tirer le diable par la queue
• tirer les ficelles
• tirer les marrons du feu
• tirer les oreilles
• tirer les vers du nez
• tirer parti
• tirer profit
• tirer sa crampe
• tirer sa révérence
• tirer son chapeau
• tirer son épingle du jeu
• tirer son plan
• tirer sur la corde
• tirer un coup
• tirer un trait
• tirer une épine du pied
• tireur

 

Related terms

• tir
• tir à l’arc

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: tire
• Louisiana Creole: tiré

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• trier

Gallo

Etymology

From Old French tirer (“to draw; pull”), from Vulgar Latin *tīrāre. Compare the semantic development of French traire (“to milk”) < Old French traire (“to draw; pull”), according to the physical action that accompanies milking.

Verb

tirer

1. (transitive, agriculture) to milk (cows)

Middle French

Alternative forms

• tyrer

Etymology

From Old French tirer.

Verb

tirer

1. to pull

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of tirer

infinitive	simple	tirer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	tirant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		tiré
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tire	tires	tire	tirons	tirez	tirent
	imperfect	tirois, tiroys	tirois, tiroys	tiroit, tiroyt	tirions, tiryons	tiriez, tiryez	tiroient, tiroyent
	past historic	tira	tiras	tira	tirasmes	tirastes	tirerent
	future	tirerai, tireray	tireras	tirera	tirerons	tirerez	tireront
	conditional	tirerois, tireroys	tirerois, tireroys	tireroit, tireroyt	tirerions, tireryons	tireriez, tireryez	tireroient, tireroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	tire	tires	tire	tirons	tirez	tirent
	imperfect	tirasse	tirasses	tirast	tirassions	tirassiez	tirassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tire	—	tirons	tirez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: tirer
  • Haitian Creole: tire
  • Louisiana Creole: tiré

Old French

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *tīrāre.

Verb

tirer

1. to pull
   • c. 1210, Henri de Valenciennes, Histoire de l'empereur Henri de Constantinople:

     Ne onkes li Ascres ne tira ses regnes duskes a tant k'il vint a Niké le Grant

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of tirer (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		tirer			avoir tiré
gerund		en tirant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		tirant
past participle		tiré
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	tir	tires	tire	tirons	tirez	tirent
	imperfect	tiroie, tireie, tiroe, tireve	tiroies, tireies, tiroes, tireves	tiroit, tireit, tirot, tireve	tiriiens, tiriens	tiriiez, tiriez	tiroient, tireient, tiroent, tirevent
	preterite	tirai	tiras	tira	tirames	tirastes	tirerent
	future	tirerai	tireras	tirera	tirerons	tireroiz, tirereiz, tirerez	tireront
	conditional	tireroie, tirereie	tireroies, tirereies	tireroit, tirereit	tireriiens, tireriens	tireriiez, tireriez	tireroient, tirereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	tir	tirs	tirt	tirons	tirez	tirent
	imperfect	tirasse	tirasses	tirast	tirissons, tirissiens	tirissoiz, tirissez, tirissiez	tirassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	tire	—	tirons	tirez	—

Derived terms

• retirer

Descendants

• Middle French: tirer
  • French: tirer
    • Haitian Creole: tire
    • Louisiana Creole: tiré
• Gallo: tirer