enlever

French

Etymology

From en- +‎ lever.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃l.ve/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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Verb

enlever

1. (transitive) to remove, take off, take away, clear
2. (transitive) to take off, remove (clothes)

   Antonym: mettre

   Elle enleva ses lunettes et j'aperçus sa beauté.

   She took off her glasses and I glimpsed her beauty.

3. (transitive) to kidnap, abduct
4. (transitive) to win, capture, carry off
5. (reflexive) to come out, wash off

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il enlève and the third-person singular future indicative il enlèvera.

Conjugation of enlever (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	enlever
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	enlevant /ɑ̃l.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		enlevé /ɑ̃l.ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	enlève /ɑ̃.lɛv/	enlèves /ɑ̃.lɛv/	enlève /ɑ̃.lɛv/	enlevons /ɑ̃l.vɔ̃/	enlevez /ɑ̃l.ve/	enlèvent /ɑ̃.lɛv/
	imperfect	enlevais /ɑ̃l.vɛ/	enlevais /ɑ̃l.vɛ/	enlevait /ɑ̃l.vɛ/	enlevions /ɑ̃.lə.vjɔ̃/	enleviez /ɑ̃.lə.vje/	enlevaient /ɑ̃l.vɛ/
	past historic2	enlevai /ɑ̃l.ve/	enlevas /ɑ̃l.va/	enleva /ɑ̃l.va/	enlevâmes /ɑ̃l.vam/	enlevâtes /ɑ̃l.vat/	enlevèrent /ɑ̃l.vɛʁ/
	future	enlèverai /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁe/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁe/	enlèveras /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁa/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁa/	enlèvera /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁa/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁa/	enlèverons /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁɔ̃/	enlèverez /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁe/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁe/	enlèveront /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	enlèverais /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁɛ/	enlèverais /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁɛ/	enlèverait /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁɛ/	enlèverions /ɑ̃.lɛ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.le.və.ʁjɔ̃/	enlèveriez /ɑ̃.lɛ.və.ʁje/ or /ɑ̃.le.və.ʁje/	enlèveraient /ɑ̃.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.le.vʁɛ/
(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	enlève /ɑ̃.lɛv/	enlèves /ɑ̃.lɛv/	enlève /ɑ̃.lɛv/	enlevions /ɑ̃.lə.vjɔ̃/	enleviez /ɑ̃.lə.vje/	enlèvent /ɑ̃.lɛv/
	imperfect2	enlevasse /ɑ̃l.vas/	enlevasses /ɑ̃l.vas/	enlevât /ɑ̃l.va/	enlevassions /ɑ̃l.va.sjɔ̃/	enlevassiez /ɑ̃l.va.sje/	enlevassent /ɑ̃l.vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	enlève /ɑ̃.lɛv/	—	enlevons /ɑ̃l.vɔ̃/	enlevez /ɑ̃l.ve/	—
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

• enlèvement
• enlever la poussière
• enlève ta soutadère que je te monte
• enlever une épine du pied

Further reading

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

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

enlever

1. (Jersey) to kidnap, abduct