séchez

Séchez is a form of the French verb sécher. It is the second-person plural present tense form (vous séchez) and also the identical spelling used for the imperative mood (Séchez!), which is used to give a command to multiple people. Because the imperative form mirrors the present tense form for vous, the same written form serves both grammatical functions depending on context.

In present tense usage, vous séchez means “you dry” or “you are drying” when addressing more than one person. In imperative usage, Séchez! means “Dry!” and can be extended with an object, for example Séchez le linge (Dry the laundry).

Pronunciation is typically [se.ʃe] in standard French, with the exact intonation depending on the sentence's role (declarative or imperative) and surrounding words.

Etymology traces séchez to the verb sécher, which comes from Old French sécher, from Latin siccare, itself from siccus meaning dry. The form séchez shares its root with related derivatives such as séché (past participle) and séchage (drying process).

Common related forms include je sèche, tu séches, il sèche, nous séchons, vous séchez, ils sèchent, as well as the noun séchage (the act of drying) and the noun sèche (a drying capability or dryness in certain contexts). The term also appears in the figurative expression sécher les cours, meaning to skip classes, illustrating the broad semantic reach of the root verb.

See also: sécher, séché, séchage, sèche.