fabriquer

Fabriquer is a French verb meaning to create or produce something by assembling, shaping, or preparing materials. It covers practical production as well as the more figurative sense of making something up. In everyday use, fabriquer can refer to manufacturing goods, constructing objects, or preparing food, and it can also express the act of fabricating a lie or a story.

The word derives from Latin fabricare, meaning to work or construct, through Old French pathways that led to the modern verb. Related forms include the noun fabrication (the act or process of manufacturing) and the noun la fabrique (a workshop or factory). The root fabric- carries the sense of craft and handiwork that underpins the term.

Fabriquer is a regular -er verb. In the present tense it yields: je fabrique, tu fabriques, il fabrique, nous fabriquons, vous fabriquez, ils fabriquent. The past participle is fabriqué, used with être or, most often, with avoir in compound tenses: j’ai fabriqué, on a fabriqué. Other common forms follow standard patterns for -er verbs (fabrique, fabriques, fabriquons, etc.). The verb can be used transitively with a direct object: elle fabrique des meubles; on peut aussi dire il faut fabriquer une pièce.

Usage notes: fabriquer is prevalent in industrial, artisanal, and domestic contexts. It often implies making something from components or raw materials. Figuratively, it can mean to invent or falsify, as in fabriquer une excuse or fabriquer de toutes pièces une histoire. Related terms include fabriquer (nominally la fabrication), fabrique (the workshop or factory), and fabricant (the maker or producer).