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Télécharger Meaning & Definition – To Download in French

Télécharger Meaning & Definition – To Download in French

Today we’ll look at a super useful and modern French verb which almost never appears in the textbooks: Télécharger, which means “to download”.

French Word of the Day lesson: Télécharger (verb) - to download

Télécharger – to download in French

Word origin

The French verb télécharger (to download) is comprised of two parts: The prefix télé and the verb charger. Télé comes from the Greek tele (from a distance). The modern French verb charger comes from the Late Latin verb carricare (to put into a chariot).

Present tense conjugation

Télécharger is a regular ER verb with a slight irregularity. This means that its endings are the same as all other regular ER verbs when conjugated in the present tense. The irregularity is that there is an extra letter-e inserted after the -g on the nous (we) form. This is done to give the -g a soft sound.

Je télécharge I download
Tu télécharges You download (singular, informal)
Il, elle télécharge He, she downloads
Nous téléchargeons We download
Vous téléchargez You download (plural, formal)
Ils, elles téléchargent They download

Example sentences

This first example sentence uses the impersonal expression il faut, which has many trasnations including “it’s necessary” and “you need/have to”. Other things one could télécharge are un film (a movie), un mp3 (mp3 file), un image (image file), un dossier (another word for file).

Il faut télécharger le ficher sur ce site internet.

You need to download the file on this website.

This next sentence uses the verb devoir, which translates to “must” or “have to”. The noun formulaire d’inscription can translate to either signup or registration form.

Vous devez télécharger le formulaire d’inscription.

You have to download the signup form.

Je télécharge toutes mes chansons préférées.

I download all my favorite songs.

Conclusion

Et voilà ! Now you know how to use télécharger (to download) in French! Now check out a related Word of the Day lesson: En ligne (online).

Example of how to use télécharger in French: Elle télécharge le fichier. = She downloads the file.
Elle télécharge le fichier. = She downloads the file.

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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