ressasser

French

FWOTD – 1 January 2016

Etymology

Fromre-(“again”)+‎sasser(“to sieve”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ʁə.sa.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ressasser

1. (dated)tosieveagain

   Il fautressasserla farine.―You have tosievethe flour again.

2. (figuratively)to think constantly about the same things

   Synonym:remâcher

   • 1913,Marcel Proust,Swann:

     Pendant ce mois où jeressassaicomme une mélodie, sans pouvoir m’en rassasier, ces images de Florence, de Venise et de Pise (...) je ne cessai pas de croire qu’elles correspondaient à une réalité indépendante de moi.

     (pleaseadd an English translationof this quotation)

3. (figuratively)torepeat oneself

   Synonyms:rabâcher,répéter

   • 1958,Jean Rogissart,Passantes d’Octobre,Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard:

     Par avance, il sait ce qu’il trouvera d’imparfait, de médiocre, de mal, d’immuable, en dépit des conseils, des admonestations ou reproches qu’il prodigue etressasseà chaque inspection.

     (pleaseadd an English translationof this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation ofressasser(see alsoAppendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ressasser
	compound	avoir+ past participle
present participleorgerund1	simple	ressassant /ʁə.sa.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant+ past participle
past participle		ressassé /ʁə.sa.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ressasse /ʁə.sas/	ressasses /ʁə.sas/	ressasse /ʁə.sas/	ressassons /ʁə.sa.sɔ̃/	ressassez /ʁə.sa.se/	ressassent /ʁə.sas/
	imperfect	ressassais /ʁə.sa.sɛ/	ressassais /ʁə.sa.sɛ/	ressassait /ʁə.sa.sɛ/	ressassions /ʁə.sa.sjɔ̃/	ressassiez /ʁə.sa.sje/	ressassaient /ʁə.sa.sɛ/
	past historic2	ressassai /ʁə.sa.se/	ressassas /ʁə.sa.sa/	ressassa /ʁə.sa.sa/	ressassâmes /ʁə.sa.sam/	ressassâtes /ʁə.sa.sat/	ressassèrent /ʁə.sa.sɛʁ/
	future	ressasserai /ʁə.sa.sʁe/	ressasseras /ʁə.sa.sʁa/	ressassera /ʁə.sa.sʁa/	ressasserons /ʁə.sa.sʁɔ̃/	ressasserez /ʁə.sa.sʁe/	ressasseront /ʁə.sa.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ressasserais /ʁə.sa.sʁɛ/	ressasserais /ʁə.sa.sʁɛ/	ressasserait /ʁə.sa.sʁɛ/	ressasserions /ʁə.sa.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	ressasseriez /ʁə.sa.sə.ʁje/	ressasseraient /ʁə.sa.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative ofavoir+ past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative ofavoir+ past participle
	past anterior2	past historic ofavoir+ past participle
	future perfect	future ofavoir+ past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional ofavoir+ past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	ressasse /ʁə.sas/	ressasses /ʁə.sas/	ressasse /ʁə.sas/	ressassions /ʁə.sa.sjɔ̃/	ressassiez /ʁə.sa.sje/	ressassent /ʁə.sas/
	imperfect2	ressassasse /ʁə.sa.sas/	ressassasses /ʁə.sa.sas/	ressassât /ʁə.sa.sa/	ressassassions /ʁə.sa.sa.sjɔ̃/	ressassassiez /ʁə.sa.sa.sje/	ressassassent /ʁə.sa.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive ofavoir+ past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive ofavoir+ past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ressasse /ʁə.sas/	—	ressassons /ʁə.sa.sɔ̃/	ressassez /ʁə.sa.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative ofavoir+ past participle	—	simple imperative ofavoir+ past participle	simple imperative ofavoir+ past participle	—
1The French gerund is usable only with the prepositionen.
2In 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).

Further reading

• “ressasser”,inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.

Anagrams

• serrasses