Today we’ll look at French verb that you’re likely to learn when traveling in France but not necessarily in the textbooks: Râler. Meanings of râler include to moan and groan, to grumble, complain, whine, bellyache and grouse. Arrête de raler ! (stop complaining!).
râler
to moan and groan, complain
Râler Meaning & Translation
Word origin
The verb râler (to moan and groan) is related to the noun râle (wheeze). Raler comes from Old Provençal rasclar, which in turn comes from the Latin radere (to shave, scratch, scrape).
Conjugation
Râler is a regular ER verb. This means that its endings are the same as all other regular ER verbs when conjugated in the present tense.
Je râle I moan and groan
Tu râles You moan and groan (singular, informal)
Il, elle râle He, she moans and groans
Nous râlons We moan and groan
Vous râlez You moan and groan (plural, formal)
Ils, elles râlent They moan and groan
Example sentences
The translations for all of these sentences are interchangeable, meaning you can use to complain, to whine, to moan and groan, etc.
In this first example, the verb arrêter (to stop) is followed by the preposition de + infinitive to mean “to stop doing something”. This lesson on our site covers verbs followed by de + infinitive.
Arrête de râler. On va bientôt y arriver.
Stop complaining! We’ll be there soon!
This example sentence uses the expression ça commence à bien faire, which translates to “This is getting ridiculous!”.
Ces enfants n’arrêtent pas de râler et ça commence à bien faire !
These kids don’t stop whining and it’s getting ridiculous!
In this example, the verb commencer (to start) is followed by the preposition à + infinitive, meaning “to start doing something”. This lesson on our site covers verbs followed by à + infinitive.
Les consommateurs commencent à râler pendant les periodes d’inflation.
Consumers start complaining during periods of inflation.
Noun râleur = complainer
Râleur as a noun translates to complainer, moaner or whinger. In the following example sentence, we loosely translated gros râleur (literally large sized complainers) to “people who complain all the time”.
Les gros râleurs m’énervent facilement.
People who complain all the time bother me easily.
Il y a trop de râleurs dans le monde aujourd’hui.
There are too many complainers in the world today.
Conclusion
Et voilà ! You know know how to use râler (to moan and groan, complain) in French. Now check out our lesson covering the the informal yet highly useful verb bosser (to work, to work hard).
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