embrouiller
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɑ̃.bʁu.je/
Audio: (file)
Verb
embrouiller
- to entangle
- Synonym: emberlificoter
- (figuratively, reflexive) to make mistakes, get confused (while performing a complex task)
- Synonyms: se prendre les pieds dans le tapis, s'emmêler les crayons, s'emmêler les pinceaux
- Hypernym: se tromper
- Il s’était embrouillé dans ses calculs en vérifiant les stocks. ― He had gotten his calculations mixed up while confirming the stocks
- (informal) to bamboozle, to confuse
- (slang) to get in a fight
Conjugation
Conjugation of embrouiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | embrouiller | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | embrouillant /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | embrouillé /ɑ̃.bʁu.je/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | embrouille /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
embrouilles /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
embrouille /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
embrouillons /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɔ̃/ |
embrouillez /ɑ̃.bʁu.je/ |
embrouillent /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
| imperfect | embrouillais /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɛ/ |
embrouillais /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɛ/ |
embrouillait /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɛ/ |
embrouillions /ɑ̃.bʁuj.jɔ̃/ |
embrouilliez /ɑ̃.bʁuj.je/ |
embrouillaient /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | embrouillai /ɑ̃.bʁu.je/ |
embrouillas /ɑ̃.bʁu.ja/ |
embrouilla /ɑ̃.bʁu.ja/ |
embrouillâmes /ɑ̃.bʁu.jam/ |
embrouillâtes /ɑ̃.bʁu.jat/ |
embrouillèrent /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɛʁ/ | |
| future | embrouillerai /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁe/ |
embrouilleras /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁa/ |
embrouillera /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁa/ |
embrouillerons /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁɔ̃/ |
embrouillerez /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁe/ |
embrouilleront /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | embrouillerais /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁɛ/ |
embrouillerais /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁɛ/ |
embrouillerait /ɑ̃.bʁuj.ʁɛ/ |
embrouillerions /ɑ̃.bʁu.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
embrouilleriez /ɑ̃.bʁu.jə.ʁje/ |
embrouilleraient /ɑ̃.bʁuj.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 | embrouille /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
embrouilles /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
embrouille /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
embrouillions /ɑ̃.bʁuj.jɔ̃/ |
embrouilliez /ɑ̃.bʁuj.je/ |
embrouillent /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
| imperfect2 | embrouillasse /ɑ̃.bʁu.jas/ |
embrouillasses /ɑ̃.bʁu.jas/ |
embrouillât /ɑ̃.bʁu.ja/ |
embrouillassions /ɑ̃.bʁu.ja.sjɔ̃/ |
embrouillassiez /ɑ̃.bʁu.ja.sje/ |
embrouillassent /ɑ̃.bʁu.jas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | embrouille /ɑ̃.bʁuj/ |
— | embrouillons /ɑ̃.bʁu.jɔ̃/ |
embrouillez /ɑ̃.bʁu.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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Descendants
Further reading
- “embrouiller” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
- “embrouiller”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.