enfermer

French

Etymology

From en- + fermer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

enfermer

1. (transitive) to lock up, lock in, lock away
   • 2015, Zaz, Si jamais j'oublie:

     Et s’il me prend l’envie d’ m’en aller, enferme-moi et jette la clé.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (transitive) to imprison, entrap
3. (transitive, 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