foudroyer

French

Etymology

From foudre (“lightning”) +‎ -oyer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fu.dʁwa.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

foudroyer

1. to strike (of lightning)
2. to devastate; to cause to be thunderstruck
   • 1973, “La Maladie d'amour”, performed by Michel Sardou:

     Elle foudroie dans la rue / Cet inconnu qui passe / Et qui n’oubliera plus /Ce parfum qui volait

     She strikes down in the street / That unknown passer-by/ Who will never forget / That perfume in the air

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 foudroyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	foudroyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	foudroyant /fu.dʁwa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		foudroyé /fu.dʁwa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	foudroie /fu.dʁwa/	foudroies /fu.dʁwa/	foudroie /fu.dʁwa/	foudroyons /fu.dʁwa.jɔ̃/	foudroyez /fu.dʁwa.je/	foudroient /fu.dʁwa/
	imperfect	foudroyais /fu.dʁwa.jɛ/	foudroyais /fu.dʁwa.jɛ/	foudroyait /fu.dʁwa.jɛ/	foudroyions /fu.dʁwaj.jɔ̃/	foudroyiez /fu.dʁwaj.je/	foudroyaient /fu.dʁwa.jɛ/
	past historic2	foudroyai /fu.dʁwa.je/	foudroyas /fu.dʁwa.ja/	foudroya /fu.dʁwa.ja/	foudroyâmes /fu.dʁwa.jam/	foudroyâtes /fu.dʁwa.jat/	foudroyèrent /fu.dʁwa.jɛʁ/
	future	foudroierai /fu.dʁwa.ʁe/	foudroieras /fu.dʁwa.ʁa/	foudroiera /fu.dʁwa.ʁa/	foudroierons /fu.dʁwa.ʁɔ̃/	foudroierez /fu.dʁwa.ʁe/	foudroieront /fu.dʁwa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	foudroierais /fu.dʁwa.ʁɛ/	foudroierais /fu.dʁwa.ʁɛ/	foudroierait /fu.dʁwa.ʁɛ/	foudroierions /fu.dʁwa.ʁjɔ̃/	foudroieriez /fu.dʁwa.ʁje/	foudroieraient /fu.dʁwa.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	foudroie /fu.dʁwa/	foudroies /fu.dʁwa/	foudroie /fu.dʁwa/	foudroyions /fu.dʁwaj.jɔ̃/	foudroyiez /fu.dʁwaj.je/	foudroient /fu.dʁwa/
	imperfect2	foudroyasse /fu.dʁwa.jas/	foudroyasses /fu.dʁwa.jas/	foudroyât /fu.dʁwa.ja/	foudroyassions /fu.dʁwa.ja.sjɔ̃/	foudroyassiez /fu.dʁwa.ja.sje/	foudroyassent /fu.dʁwa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	foudroie /fu.dʁwa/	—	foudroyons /fu.dʁwa.jɔ̃/	foudroyez /fu.dʁwa.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

• foudroyant
• foudroyer du regard

Further reading

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