récupérer
/ʁe.ky.pe.ʁe/
To salvage in French is récupérer.
The verb récupérer is used when salvaging or recovering something that was lost, discarded or about to be wasted.
Meaning: to rescue (verb)
Which one should you use?
There is a distinction between salvaging objects and rescuing people. Use récupérer to mean salvaging or recovering objects, but use sauver when you mean to rescue people or save lives.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle of récupérer is récupéré, and the conditional form is récupérerait (would salvage).
How do you pronounce it?
/ʁe.ky.pe.ʁe/ (4 syllables)
Did you know?
- The verb récupérer is often used colloquially to mean 'to nap' or 'to get some rest'. A student might say they need to récupérer after a long day, meaning they need to recover their energy.
- The term récupération can describe a political tactic where a controversial figure is 'salvaged' or co-opted by a mainstream party to gain votes.
- In a technical or maritime context, the specific act of salvaging a ship is often referred to as le sauvetage maritime. Even though you are saving an object, the word sauver enters the vocabulary.
Examples in context
- Nous devons récupérer les marchandises perdues dans l'accidentWe need to salvage the goods lost in the accident
- Je vais essayer de faire de la récup' dans cette vieille voiture abandonnéeI'll try to salvage something from that old abandoned car
- J'ai réussi à ramasser quelques outils abandonnésI managed to salvage a few abandoned tools
- Nous avons dû récupérer les documents importants après l'incendie.We had to salvage the important documents after the fire.
- On peut peut-être faire de la récup' dans ces vieux meubles.Maybe we can salvage something from these old pieces of furniture.
- Il a réussi à récupérer les documents.He managed to recover the documents.
- On peut récupérer les données sur le disque.We can recover the data from the disk.
Example conversation
Chloé and Gabriel are cleaning out a flooded basement.
- ChloéOn peut récupérer ce tapis ?Can we salvage this rug?
- GabrielNon, il est trop abîmé.No, it is too damaged.
- ChloéJe vais quand même tenter de le récupérer.I am going to try to salvage it anyway.
- GabrielD'accord, fais attention alors.Okay, be careful then.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry récupérer, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
