French Conversation · Level 30
89 words
French word
coucher
Pronunciation
IPA/kuʃe/
Meaning
- verbgo to bed
Example
Ce soir, je vais me coucher tôt.
Tonight, I am going to bed early.
More examples
Elle couche le bébé à vingt heures.
She puts the baby to bed at eight o'clock.
Core concept
A person or body settling horizontally for sleep, with the same basic image extending to sleeping at someone's home.
Common phrases
se coucher à la même heure
go to bed at the same time
coucher sur le dos
lay ___ on their back
Similar words
dormir: To be asleep with little awareness or response.
s'endormir: To enter sleep as consciousness begins to fade.
aller au lit: To head to bed or another place for sleeping.
passer la nuit: To spend an entire night at a specific location.
Definition in French
Placer son corps en position horizontale pour dormir ; peut aussi signifier faire dormir quelqu'un ou passer la nuit chez quelqu'un.
Word origin
French coucher inherited the idea of laying something down from Old French couchier, derived from Latin collocare, and se coucher came to mean lying down for sleep.
Usage tips
- Coucher chez quelqu'un means spending the night at that person's home, while coucher avec quelqu'un commonly has a sexual meaning.
Other meanings
- put to bedverb
- stay overnightverb
Opposites
- se leverget upverb
Related words
- couchélying downadjective
- couchediapernoun