envoler

French

Etymology

From en (“from”) + voler. Unrelated to Latin involāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.vɔ.le/
• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: envolai, envolé, envolée, envolées, envolés, envolez

Verb

envoler

1. (reflexive) to take off, to take flight
2. (reflexive) to blow away
3. (reflexive) to fly (of time)
   • 1820, Alphonse de Lamartine, “Le Lac”, in Premières méditations poétiques‎^[1]:

     Temps jaloux, se peut-il que ces moments d’ivresse, ¶ Où l’amour à longs flots nous verse le bonheur, ¶ S’envolent loin de nous de la même vitesse ¶ Que les jours de malheur ?

     Jealous time, could it be that these drunken moments ¶ Where love in long floods pours us enjoyment ¶ Fly off far from us at the same speed ¶ As the days of hardship?

4. (reflexive, colloquial) to vanish, disappear, walk (to be stolen)

Conjugation

Conjugation of s'envoler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'envoler
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’envolant /sɑ̃.vɔ.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		envolé /ɑ̃.vɔ.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’envole /mɑ̃.vɔl/	t’envoles /tɑ̃.vɔl/	s’envole /sɑ̃.vɔl/	nous envolons /nu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.lɔ̃/	vous envolez /vu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.le/	s’envolent /sɑ̃.vɔl/
	imperfect	m’envolais /mɑ̃.vɔ.lɛ/	t’envolais /tɑ̃.vɔ.lɛ/	s’envolait /sɑ̃.vɔ.lɛ/	nous envolions /nu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.ljɔ̃/	vous envoliez /vu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.lje/	s’envolaient /sɑ̃.vɔ.lɛ/
	past historic2	m’envolai /mɑ̃.vɔ.le/	t’envolas /tɑ̃.vɔ.la/	s’envola /sɑ̃.vɔ.la/	nous envolâmes /nu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.lam/	vous envolâtes /vu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.lat/	s’envolèrent /sɑ̃.vɔ.lɛʁ/
	future	m’envolerai /mɑ̃.vɔl.ʁe/	t’envoleras /tɑ̃.vɔl.ʁa/	s’envolera /sɑ̃.vɔl.ʁa/	nous envolerons /nu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔl.ʁɔ̃/	vous envolerez /vu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔl.ʁe/	s’envoleront /sɑ̃.vɔl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’envolerais /mɑ̃.vɔl.ʁɛ/	t’envolerais /tɑ̃.vɔl.ʁɛ/	s’envolerait /sɑ̃.vɔl.ʁɛ/	nous envolerions /nu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous envoleriez /vu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.lə.ʁje/	s’envoleraient /sɑ̃.vɔl.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’envole /mɑ̃.vɔl/	t’envoles /tɑ̃.vɔl/	s’envole /sɑ̃.vɔl/	nous envolions /nu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.ljɔ̃/	vous envoliez /vu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.lje/	s’envolent /sɑ̃.vɔl/
	imperfect2	m’envolasse /mɑ̃.vɔ.las/	t’envolasses /tɑ̃.vɔ.las/	s’envolât /sɑ̃.vɔ.la/	nous envolassions /nu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.la.sjɔ̃/	vous envolassiez /vu.z‿ɑ̃.vɔ.la.sje/	s’envolassent /sɑ̃.vɔ.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	envole-toi /ɑ̃.vɔl.twa/	—	envolons-nous /ɑ̃.vɔ.lɔ̃.nu/	envolez-vous /ɑ̃.vɔ.le.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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).

Related terms

• voler

Further reading

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