enfouir

French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *infodīre, from Latin in- + fodere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.fwiʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

enfouir

1. (transitive) to bury, to inter (something in the ground)

   Synonym: enterrer

   enfouir un cadavre ― to bury a body

2. (transitive, figurative) to bury

   Il enfouit son visage dans ses mains. ― He buried his face in his hands.

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of enfouir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	enfouir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	enfouissant /ɑ̃.fwi.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		enfoui /ɑ̃.fwi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	enfouis /ɑ̃.fwi/	enfouis /ɑ̃.fwi/	enfouit /ɑ̃.fwi/	enfouissons /ɑ̃.fwi.sɔ̃/	enfouissez /ɑ̃.fwi.se/	enfouissent /ɑ̃.fwis/
	imperfect	enfouissais /ɑ̃.fwi.sɛ/	enfouissais /ɑ̃.fwi.sɛ/	enfouissait /ɑ̃.fwi.sɛ/	enfouissions /ɑ̃.fwi.sjɔ̃/	enfouissiez /ɑ̃.fwi.sje/	enfouissaient /ɑ̃.fwi.sɛ/
	past historic2	enfouis /ɑ̃.fwi/	enfouis /ɑ̃.fwi/	enfouit /ɑ̃.fwi/	enfouîmes /ɑ̃.fwim/	enfouîtes /ɑ̃.fwit/	enfouirent /ɑ̃.fwiʁ/
	future	enfouirai /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁe/	enfouiras /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁa/	enfouira /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁa/	enfouirons /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁɔ̃/	enfouirez /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁe/	enfouiront /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	enfouirais /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁɛ/	enfouirais /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁɛ/	enfouirait /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁɛ/	enfouirions /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁjɔ̃/	enfouiriez /ɑ̃.fwi.ʁje/	enfouiraient /ɑ̃.fwi.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	enfouisse /ɑ̃.fwis/	enfouisses /ɑ̃.fwis/	enfouisse /ɑ̃.fwis/	enfouissions /ɑ̃.fwi.sjɔ̃/	enfouissiez /ɑ̃.fwi.sje/	enfouissent /ɑ̃.fwis/
	imperfect2	enfouisse /ɑ̃.fwis/	enfouisses /ɑ̃.fwis/	enfouît /ɑ̃.fwi/	enfouissions /ɑ̃.fwi.sjɔ̃/	enfouissiez /ɑ̃.fwi.sje/	enfouissent /ɑ̃.fwis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	enfouis /ɑ̃.fwi/	—	enfouissons /ɑ̃.fwi.sɔ̃/	enfouissez /ɑ̃.fwi.se/	—
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

• enfouissement

Related terms

• fouir

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• fournie