Récolter, Cueillir or Ramasser ?

Imagine you are in a French-speaking country in Spring, Summer or even Autumn…and you are in a field or garden. You may hear the words “récolter”, “cueillir” or “ramasser” because the topic is around picking fruits and vegetables.

In this post, you will not only learn the nuances of these 3 French verbs but you’ll also be able to adap the same method to expand your vocabulary.

Indeed, when learning a language, we tend to start with the first direct meaning of a word then learn other words with some nuances and finally we play with expressions and idioms because we can understand the imagery behind it.

Let’s describe the process of expanding our vocabulary together.

When do you use the verb CUEILLIR in French?

First, let’s begin with the verb “cueillir”. Be very, extremely cautious with the spelling since it’s a common mistake that even native French speakers make! The letter “u” comes right after the “c”. And for the pronunciation “ll” is the equivalent of the English “y”.

This verb belongs to the 3rd or irregular group. But don’t worry because the conjugation is exactly like a regular verb with the same endings like the following:

• Je cueille
• Tu cueilles 
• Il / elle cueille

• Nous cueillons

• Vous cueillez
• Ils / elles cueillent

Now that you know how to conjugate it, let’s talk about its meaning. In English, it means to pick, one by one. We usually use “cueillir” for flowers because it’s one by one and also because flowers are delicate. 

With fruits and vegetables, the idea is to preserve the plant and only pick the product with delicacy.

Here’s an example:

• Je cueille des myrtilles >>> I am picking some blue berries.

The other meaning of CUEILLIR.

At this point we have seen the concrete meaning of “cueillir”. Therefore, you are ready to see the abstract version of this verb and it’s to “catch”.

Indeed, it’s a common fun verb to use when catching thieves. It goes with the effect of surprise like here:

• Après avoir chassé le chien pendant deux heures, je suis parvenu à le cueillir >>> After chasing a dog for two hours, I managed to catch him. 

The nuance of the verb of RECUEILLIR.

Time to expand a little bit. If we add the prefix “re”, we get another verb very similar but with a nuance. The verb “recueillir”  implies not only being picked but also conserved (in a jar, bottle…).

This example illustrates it:

• Je recueille les cerises >>> I’m picking cherries. 

As you can see, this nuance is not reflected in English. It happens sometimes. There are words that don’t exist in other languages.

What does RÉCOLTER mean?

After “cueillir” which was very specific, let’s explain the meaning of “récolter” which is broader.  Why? Because this verb embraces all the products of the earth. Basically, you reap what you have sowed.

Bonne nouvelle (good news)! The verb is regular:

• Je récolte
•  Tu récoltes
• Il / elle récolte

• Nous récoltons

• Vous récoltez
• Ils / elles récoltent

And with an example, we have this:

• On récolte les produits de la terre >>> You harvest the products of the ground.

Unlike “cueillir”, “récolter” expresses the idea of quantity and not picking one by one. Moreover, we don’t really care about what’s going to happen to the plant since we are focused on the final product. In other words, we somehow damage the plant by extracting it in some cases. For instance if you harvest a cauliflower, you won’t have another one from the plant.

• Voilà une bonne récolte de chou-fleur >>> Here’s a good little harvest of cauliflower. 

Here is another example of something we “récolte”: olives. Its process is rather peculiar: we shake the tree a little since it would be impossible to pick the olives one by one!

• Je récolte les olives - en quantité >>> I “pick” olives - lots of them.

Once more, English doesn’t reflect the particularity of “getting” the olives.

3 expressions with the verb RÉCOLTER.

If you have grasped the meaning of “récolter”, let’s have fun with 3 expressions with this verb.

The first one uses the metaphor of reaping what you sow: good or bad.

• Qui sème le vent, récolte la tempête. >>> He who saw the wind, harvests the storm.  

Here the idea is you get what you deserve.

This version is more positive:

• Je récolte ce que je sème. >>> I get what I deserve.

To finish, this version can be either positive or negative:

• Il récolte le fruit de ses erreurs. >>> He’s reaping the fruit of his errors.

3 different meanings of the French verb RAMASSER.

Our third verb “ramasser” has a lot of different meanings. The first one is to pick up. It usually implies the movement from the ground to another place like the following:

• Nous avons ramassé beaucoup de déchets aujourd’hui à la plage. >>> We picked up loads of litter on the beach today.

Did you know that “ramasser” signifies to bring together also? Here’s an every day example for you:

• Il ramasse les feuilles dans le jardin. >>> He’s gathering the leaves in the garden.

Note that “rassembler” would be the equivalent of “ramasser” but applied to humans.

The verb “ramasser” in a colloquial context means to get.

• J’ai ramassé un rhume. >>> I managed to get a cold.

How to memorise in an effective way.

Oui, we have seen 3 verbs with nuances but non! You don’t have to learn all of them today!

Please, don’t overthink this. The French would say “Ne cherche pas midi à quatorze heures”.

The enjoyable process to learn words should be like this:

• Learn the first direct meaning (ex: cueillir >>> to pick)
• Expand it with other verbs with nuances ((ex: recueillir >>> to pick and preserve)
• Upgrade the word with expressions, idioms or colloquial versions (ex: cueillir >>> to catch). 

Récolter, Cueillir, Ramasser: 3 verbs with some nuances.

Let’s review together our 3 verbs:

RÉCOLTER: to harvest in general in quantity and we don’t care about the plant. It can be used as metaphors of things we reap in our lifes.

CUEILLIR: when we pick something one by one because it’s delicate. If preserved , we “pick” the verb “RECUEILLIR”. And if it’s colloquial, it means to catch someone by surprise.

RAMASSER: when you pick up something from the ground, when you gather something or when you “get” something if it’s colloquial.

Which verb do you use the most? Should you still have any doubt, I’m here to clarify things. Merci!