enfermer

French

Etymology

From en- + fermer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

enfermer

1. to lock up, lock in, lock away
2. to imprison, entrap
3. (literary) to enclose, contain

Conjugation

Conjugation of enfermer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	enfermer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	enfermant /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		enfermé /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	enferme /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/	enfermes /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/	enferme /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/	enfermons /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɔ̃/	enfermez /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me/	enferment /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/
	imperfect	enfermais /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɛ/	enfermais /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɛ/	enfermait /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɛ/	enfermions /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mjɔ̃/	enfermiez /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mje/	enfermaient /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɛ/
	past historic2	enfermai /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me/	enfermas /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.ma/	enferma /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.ma/	enfermâmes /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mam/	enfermâtes /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mat/	enfermèrent /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɛʁ/
	future	enfermerai /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁe/	enfermeras /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁa/	enfermera /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁa/	enfermerons /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁɔ̃/	enfermerez /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁe/	enfermeront /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	enfermerais /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁɛ/	enfermerais /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁɛ/	enfermerait /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁɛ/	enfermerions /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁjɔ̃/	enfermeriez /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.ʁje/	enfermeraient /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mə.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	enferme /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/	enfermes /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/	enferme /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/	enfermions /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mjɔ̃/	enfermiez /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mje/	enferment /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/
	imperfect2	enfermasse /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mas/	enfermasses /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mas/	enfermât /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.ma/	enfermassions /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.ma.sjɔ̃/	enfermassiez /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.ma.sje/	enfermassent /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	enferme /ɑ̃.fɛʁm/	—	enfermons /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.mɔ̃/	enfermez /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me/	—
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).

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• renferme, renfermé