fossoyer

French

Etymology

From fosse +‎ -oyer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔ.swa.je/

• Audio (Lyon):

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• Audio (Lyon):

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• Audio (France, Somain):

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Verb

fossoyer

1. (transitive, archaic) to put a ditch around
2. (transitive, intransitive) to dig (graves, etc.)
3. (transitive, figuratively) to bury, to put to rest

Conjugation

This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like noyer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the 'y' with an 'i' before a silent 'e'.

Conjugation of fossoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	fossoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	fossoyant /fɔ.swa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		fossoyé /fɔ.swa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	fossoie /fɔ.swa/	fossoies /fɔ.swa/	fossoie /fɔ.swa/	fossoyons /fɔ.swa.jɔ̃/	fossoyez /fɔ.swa.je/	fossoient /fɔ.swa/
	imperfect	fossoyais /fɔ.swa.jɛ/	fossoyais /fɔ.swa.jɛ/	fossoyait /fɔ.swa.jɛ/	fossoyions /fɔ.swaj.jɔ̃/	fossoyiez /fɔ.swaj.je/	fossoyaient /fɔ.swa.jɛ/
	past historic2	fossoyai /fɔ.swa.je/	fossoyas /fɔ.swa.ja/	fossoya /fɔ.swa.ja/	fossoyâmes /fɔ.swa.jam/	fossoyâtes /fɔ.swa.jat/	fossoyèrent /fɔ.swa.jɛʁ/
	future	fossoierai /fɔ.swa.ʁe/	fossoieras /fɔ.swa.ʁa/	fossoiera /fɔ.swa.ʁa/	fossoierons /fɔ.swa.ʁɔ̃/	fossoierez /fɔ.swa.ʁe/	fossoieront /fɔ.swa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	fossoierais /fɔ.swa.ʁɛ/	fossoierais /fɔ.swa.ʁɛ/	fossoierait /fɔ.swa.ʁɛ/	fossoierions /fɔ.swa.ʁjɔ̃/	fossoieriez /fɔ.swa.ʁje/	fossoieraient /fɔ.swa.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	fossoie /fɔ.swa/	fossoies /fɔ.swa/	fossoie /fɔ.swa/	fossoyions /fɔ.swaj.jɔ̃/	fossoyiez /fɔ.swaj.je/	fossoient /fɔ.swa/
	imperfect2	fossoyasse /fɔ.swa.jas/	fossoyasses /fɔ.swa.jas/	fossoyât /fɔ.swa.ja/	fossoyassions /fɔ.swa.ja.sjɔ̃/	fossoyassiez /fɔ.swa.ja.sje/	fossoyassent /fɔ.swa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	fossoie /fɔ.swa/	—	fossoyons /fɔ.swa.jɔ̃/	fossoyez /fɔ.swa.je/	—
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

• fossoyeur

Further reading

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