noyer

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nwa.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: noyers, noyé, noyés, noyée, noyées, noyai, noyez

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin nucārius (“nut tree”) from Classical Latin nux. Compare Spanish noguera, Portuguese nogueira, Catalan noguera, Occitan noguièr. Equivalent to noix +‎ -ier.

Noun

noyer m (plural noyers)

1. walnut (tree)

Derived terms

• noyer du Brésil

Related terms

• noix (walnut, the nut)

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old French noier, neier, from Latin necāre (“kill”). The sense of "to drown" can be found in other Romance cognates; compare Catalan negar, Italian annegare, Spanish anegar, Romanian îneca.

Verb

noyer

1. (reflexive, literal and figurative) to drown; to drown oneself

   Elle s’est noyée dans l’océan.

   She drowned in the ocean.

2. (transitive, literal and figurative) to drown

   J’ai noyé mon chien dans le fleuve.

   I drowned my dog in the river.

   • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act I, scene 3:

     Et noyons dans l’oubli ces petits différends

     And let us drown in oblivion these petty disputes

3. (transitive, cooking) to dilute; to water down

   Il faut noyer le vin avec de l’eau.

   You must water down the wine.

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of noyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	noyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	noyant /nwa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		noyé /nwa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	noie /nwa/	noies /nwa/	noie /nwa/	noyons /nwa.jɔ̃/	noyez /nwa.je/	noient /nwa/
	imperfect	noyais /nwa.jɛ/	noyais /nwa.jɛ/	noyait /nwa.jɛ/	noyions /nwaj.jɔ̃/	noyiez /nwaj.je/	noyaient /nwa.jɛ/
	past historic2	noyai /nwa.je/	noyas /nwa.ja/	noya /nwa.ja/	noyâmes /nwa.jam/	noyâtes /nwa.jat/	noyèrent /nwa.jɛʁ/
	future	noierai /nwa.ʁe/	noieras /nwa.ʁa/	noiera /nwa.ʁa/	noierons /nwa.ʁɔ̃/	noierez /nwa.ʁe/	noieront /nwa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	noierais /nwa.ʁɛ/	noierais /nwa.ʁɛ/	noierait /nwa.ʁɛ/	noierions /nwa.ʁjɔ̃/	noieriez /nwa.ʁje/	noieraient /nwa.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	noie /nwa/	noies /nwa/	noie /nwa/	noyions /nwaj.jɔ̃/	noyiez /nwaj.je/	noient /nwa/
	imperfect2	noyasse /nwa.jas/	noyasses /nwa.jas/	noyât /nwa.ja/	noyassions /nwa.ja.sjɔ̃/	noyassiez /nwa.ja.sje/	noyassent /nwa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	noie /nwa/	—	noyons /nwa.jɔ̃/	noyez /nwa.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).

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

Conjugation of se noyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se noyer
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se noyant /sə nwa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		noyé /nwa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me noie /mə nwa/	te noies /tə nwa/	se noie /sə nwa/	nous noyons /nu nwa.jɔ̃/	vous noyez /vu nwa.je/	se noient /sə nwa/
	imperfect	me noyais /mə nwa.jɛ/	te noyais /tə nwa.jɛ/	se noyait /sə nwa.jɛ/	nous noyions /nu nwaj.jɔ̃/	vous noyiez /vu nwaj.je/	se noyaient /sə nwa.jɛ/
	past historic2	me noyai /mə nwa.je/	te noyas /tə nwa.ja/	se noya /sə nwa.ja/	nous noyâmes /nu nwa.jam/	vous noyâtes /vu nwa.jat/	se noyèrent /sə nwa.jɛʁ/
	future	me noierai /mə nwa.ʁe/	te noieras /tə nwa.ʁa/	se noiera /sə nwa.ʁa/	nous noierons /nu nwa.ʁɔ̃/	vous noierez /vu nwa.ʁe/	se noieront /sə nwa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me noierais /mə nwa.ʁɛ/	te noierais /tə nwa.ʁɛ/	se noierait /sə nwa.ʁɛ/	nous noierions /nu nwa.ʁjɔ̃/	vous noieriez /vu nwa.ʁje/	se noieraient /sə nwa.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	me noie /mə nwa/	te noies /tə nwa/	se noie /sə nwa/	nous noyions /nu nwaj.jɔ̃/	vous noyiez /vu nwaj.je/	se noient /sə nwa/
	imperfect2	me noyasse /mə nwa.jas/	te noyasses /tə nwa.jas/	se noyât /sə nwa.ja/	nous noyassions /nu nwa.ja.sjɔ̃/	vous noyassiez /vu nwa.ja.sje/	se noyassent /sə nwa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	noie-toi /nwa.twa/	—	noyons-nous /nwa.jɔ̃.nu/	noyez-vous /nwa.je.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).

Derived terms

• noyer le poisson
• noyer son chagrin
• se noyer dans un verre d’eau

 

Further reading

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