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

1. (intransitive, of a dog) to bark
2. (intransitive) to scream at or inveigh against somebody
3. (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	simple	aboyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	aboyant /a.bwa.jɑ̃/
	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/
	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
	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).

Derived terms

• aboyeur
• chien qui aboie ne mord pas
• les chiens aboient, la caravane passe

Further reading

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