aboyer

French

Etymology

From Old French abayer, abaüer, probably of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Latin baubari, Italian abbaiare.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /a.bwa.je/
Audio: (file)

Verb

aboyer

(intransitive, of a dog) to bark
(intransitive) to scream at or inveigh against somebody
(transitive, usually derogatory) to scream or yell in short bouts; to bark
Il aboie des ordres sans s’arrêter pour respirer
He barks orders without pausing to breathe.

Usage notes

To mark the target of the barking, the usual preposition is après; less common is contre, while à is dated.

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 aboyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	aboyer
present participle or gerund¹	simple	aboyant /a.bwa.jɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		aboyé /a.bwa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	aboie /a.bwa/	aboies /a.bwa/	aboie /a.bwa/	aboyons /a.bwa.jɔ̃/	aboyez /a.bwa.je/	aboient /a.bwa/
	imperfect	aboyais /a.bwa.jɛ/	aboyais /a.bwa.jɛ/	aboyait /a.bwa.jɛ/	aboyions /a.bwaj.jɔ̃/	aboyiez /a.bwaj.je/	aboyaient /a.bwa.jɛ/
	past historic²	aboyai /a.bwa.je/	aboyas /a.bwa.ja/	aboya /a.bwa.ja/	aboyâmes /a.bwa.jam/	aboyâtes /a.bwa.jat/	aboyèrent /a.bwa.jɛʁ/
	future	aboierai /a.bwa.ʁe/	aboieras /a.bwa.ʁa/	aboiera /a.bwa.ʁa/	aboierons /a.bwa.ʁɔ̃/	aboierez /a.bwa.ʁe/	aboieront /a.bwa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	aboierais /a.bwa.ʁɛ/	aboierais /a.bwa.ʁɛ/	aboierait /a.bwa.ʁɛ/	aboierions /a.bwa.ʁjɔ̃/	aboieriez /a.bwa.ʁje/	aboieraient /a.bwa.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	aboie /a.bwa/	aboies /a.bwa/	aboie /a.bwa/	aboyions /a.bwaj.jɔ̃/	aboyiez /a.bwaj.je/	aboient /a.bwa/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	aboyasse /a.bwa.jas/	aboyasses /a.bwa.jas/	aboyât /a.bwa.ja/	aboyassions /a.bwa.ja.sjɔ̃/	aboyassiez /a.bwa.ja.sje/	aboyassent /a.bwa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	aboie /a.bwa/	—	aboyons /a.bwa.jɔ̃/	aboyez /a.bwa.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).