empoigner

French

Etymology

From en- +‎ poing +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲe/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

empoigner

1. to grab; grasp (to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something))
   • 1961, Charles Aznavour (lyrics and music), “Je m’voyais déjà”, in Je m'voyais déjà:

     A dix-huit ans j’ai quitté ma province / Bien décidé à empoigner la vie / Le cœur léger et le bagage mince / J’étais certain de conquérir Paris

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of empoigner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	empoigner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	empoignant /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		empoigné /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	empoigne /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/	empoignes /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/	empoigne /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/	empoignons /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɔ̃/	empoignez /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲe/	empoignent /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/
	imperfect	empoignais /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɛ/	empoignais /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɛ/	empoignait /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɛ/	empoignions /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲjɔ̃/	empoigniez /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲje/	empoignaient /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɛ/
	past historic2	empoignai /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲe/	empoignas /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲa/	empoigna /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲa/	empoignâmes /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲam/	empoignâtes /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲat/	empoignèrent /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɛʁ/
	future	empoignerai /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁe/	empoigneras /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁa/	empoignera /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁa/	empoignerons /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/	empoignerez /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁe/	empoigneront /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	empoignerais /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁɛ/	empoignerais /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁɛ/	empoignerait /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁɛ/	empoignerions /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁjɔ̃/	empoigneriez /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁje/	empoigneraient /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	empoigne /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/	empoignes /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/	empoigne /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/	empoignions /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲjɔ̃/	empoigniez /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲje/	empoignent /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/
	imperfect2	empoignasse /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲas/	empoignasses /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲas/	empoignât /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲa/	empoignassions /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲa.sjɔ̃/	empoignassiez /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲa.sje/	empoignassent /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	empoigne /ɑ̃.pwaɲ/	—	empoignons /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲɔ̃/	empoignez /ɑ̃.pwa.ɲe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• foire d’empoigne

Further reading

• “empoigner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.