Échapper

Échapper is a French verb meaning to escape, to slip away, or to avoid danger, capture, or control. It can describe getting away from a place, evading pursuers, or avoiding an obligation or harmful consequences. The sense often emphasizes a sudden or unintended departure from confinement or threat, but it can also indicate avoidance in a broader, more figurative sense.

Usage and construction

Échapper can be used in two main ways. Intransitively as s’échapper means “to escape oneself,” as in escaping from a place or situation: Il s’est échappé de prison (He escaped from prison). Transitively, the verb can take a direct object in the sense of escaping something or someone, often with the preposition à or de. Common constructions include échapper à quelqu’un or échapper à quelque chose (to escape someone or to avoid something), and s’échapper de quelque chose (to slip out of or escape from something, physically). The phrase échapper à la vigilance, à la surveillance, or à un danger is frequently used to mean elude or avoid.

Noun and related terms

The related noun une échappée means an escape, a getaway, or a brief outing. In mechanical or technical contexts, the noun échappement refers to an escape mechanism or exhaust system, for example in engines.

Conjugation notes

Échapper follows regular patterns of -er verbs in many forms: j’échappe, tu échappes, il échappe, nous échappons, vous échappez, ils échappent. The reflexive form s’échapper is common in the sense of escaping a situation or place, with past forms using être: je me suis échappé(e).

Examples

- Il s’est échappé du bâtiment par une porte secondaire.

- Ils ont échappé à la police grâce à une diversion.

- Une échappée nocturne lui a fait retrouver le chemin de la liberté.