bouger

Bouger is a French verb meaning to move, to cause to move, or to get moving. It covers physical movement of people or objects as well as figurative movement, such as making progress or changing position. In everyday speech it is versatile and widely used in both transitive and intransitive senses. The reflexive form se bouger is common in expressions about oneself getting moving or acting with more urgency.

As a transitive verb, bouger takes a direct object: bouger quelque chose means to move something. For example, Il faut bouger les meubles pour nettoyer derrière eux. Intransitively, bouger describes movement by itself: La voiture bouge, Le bateau bouge au gré des vagues. The reflexive form se bouger is used to indicate a person taking action on themselves, as in Il faut se bouger pour arriver à l’heure.

Conjugation basics: present tense forms include je bouge, tu bouges, il bouge, nous bougeons, vous bougez, ils bougent. The past participle is bougé, used with auxiliary avoir in compound tenses (J’ai bougé). The imperfect is je bougeais, and the future is je bougerai. In questions or subordinate clauses, the same patterns apply (que je bouge, que vous bougiez, etc.).

Common usages and nuances: it can express literal motion, as in bouger un meuble, or more figurative movement, such as bouger les lignes in a discussion or bouger rapidement in sports. Synonyms include déplacer or remuer, while mouvoir tends to be more formal or literary.