expliquer
French, verb/ɛks.pli.ke/
expliquer is spelled E-X-P-L-I-Q-U-E-R (9 letters) and appears 76 times per million words in written French, the 1,112th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Expliquer is a French verb meaning “to explain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Rendre clair ; faire comprendre”.
What does expliquer mean in English?
verb
- 1
to explain
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Rendre clair ; faire comprendre. 2. Faire connaître la cause, le motif d’une chose qui paraît extraordinaire, qui est difficile à concevoir. 3. Rendre intelligible par l’enseignement ou la démonstration. 4. Interpréter un auteur, le traduire de vive voix.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of expliquer
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- expliquant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- expliqué participle past
- explique first-person indicative present
- expliques indicative present second-person
- expliquons first-person indicative plural
- expliquez indicative plural present
- expliquent indicative plural present
- expliquais first-person imperfect indicative
- expliquait imperfect indicative singular
- expliquions first-person imperfect indicative
- expliquiez imperfect indicative plural
- expliquaient imperfect indicative plural
- expliquai first-person historic indicative
- expliquas historic indicative past
- expliqua historic indicative past
- expliquâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce expliquer?
- /ɛks.pli.ke/
- /ɛk.spli.ke/
- /ɛs.pli.ke/
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to expliquer
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is expliquer in French?
expliquer appears 76 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).