barbouiller

French

Etymology

Original meaning "to dirty one's beard," from barbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baʁ.bu.je/

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Verb

barbouiller

1. to daub
2. to scribble
3. to mark, stain, dirty
4. to blabber
5. to fumble, blunder
   • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎^[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères:

     Et Charles avoua qu'elle avait un peu perdu. Elle se trompait de portée, barbouillait; puis, s'arrêtant court: […] .

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of barbouiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	barbouiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	barbouillant /baʁ.bu.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		barbouillé /baʁ.bu.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	barbouille /baʁ.buj/	barbouilles /baʁ.buj/	barbouille /baʁ.buj/	barbouillons /baʁ.bu.jɔ̃/	barbouillez /baʁ.bu.je/	barbouillent /baʁ.buj/
	imperfect	barbouillais /baʁ.bu.jɛ/	barbouillais /baʁ.bu.jɛ/	barbouillait /baʁ.bu.jɛ/	barbouillions /baʁ.buj.jɔ̃/	barbouilliez /baʁ.buj.je/	barbouillaient /baʁ.bu.jɛ/
	past historic2	barbouillai /baʁ.bu.je/	barbouillas /baʁ.bu.ja/	barbouilla /baʁ.bu.ja/	barbouillâmes /baʁ.bu.jam/	barbouillâtes /baʁ.bu.jat/	barbouillèrent /baʁ.bu.jɛʁ/
	future	barbouillerai /baʁ.buj.ʁe/	barbouilleras /baʁ.buj.ʁa/	barbouillera /baʁ.buj.ʁa/	barbouillerons /baʁ.buj.ʁɔ̃/	barbouillerez /baʁ.buj.ʁe/	barbouilleront /baʁ.buj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	barbouillerais /baʁ.buj.ʁɛ/	barbouillerais /baʁ.buj.ʁɛ/	barbouillerait /baʁ.buj.ʁɛ/	barbouillerions /baʁ.bu.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	barbouilleriez /baʁ.bu.jə.ʁje/	barbouilleraient /baʁ.buj.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	barbouille /baʁ.buj/	barbouilles /baʁ.buj/	barbouille /baʁ.buj/	barbouillions /baʁ.buj.jɔ̃/	barbouilliez /baʁ.buj.je/	barbouillent /baʁ.buj/
	imperfect2	barbouillasse /baʁ.bu.jas/	barbouillasses /baʁ.bu.jas/	barbouillât /baʁ.bu.ja/	barbouillassions /baʁ.bu.ja.sjɔ̃/	barbouillassiez /baʁ.bu.ja.sje/	barbouillassent /baʁ.bu.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	barbouille /baʁ.buj/	—	barbouillons /baʁ.bu.jɔ̃/	barbouillez /baʁ.bu.je/	—
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

• barbouilleur

Further reading

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