fourvoyer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French forvoier. Equivalent to for- +‎ voie (“way”) +‎ -er. Perhaps a calque of Frankish *farleidian (compare Old Saxon farlēdian, Dutch verleiden, German verleiten).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fuʁ.vwa.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

fourvoyer

1. (transitive) to mislead

   Synonyms: dévoyer, tromper

2. (pronominal) to make a mistake, go astray, err

   Synonym: égarer

3. to cloak

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 fourvoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	fourvoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	fourvoyant /fuʁ.vwa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		fourvoyé /fuʁ.vwa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	fourvoie /fuʁ.vwa/	fourvoies /fuʁ.vwa/	fourvoie /fuʁ.vwa/	fourvoyons /fuʁ.vwa.jɔ̃/	fourvoyez /fuʁ.vwa.je/	fourvoient /fuʁ.vwa/
	imperfect	fourvoyais /fuʁ.vwa.jɛ/	fourvoyais /fuʁ.vwa.jɛ/	fourvoyait /fuʁ.vwa.jɛ/	fourvoyions /fuʁ.vwaj.jɔ̃/	fourvoyiez /fuʁ.vwaj.je/	fourvoyaient /fuʁ.vwa.jɛ/
	past historic2	fourvoyai /fuʁ.vwa.je/	fourvoyas /fuʁ.vwa.ja/	fourvoya /fuʁ.vwa.ja/	fourvoyâmes /fuʁ.vwa.jam/	fourvoyâtes /fuʁ.vwa.jat/	fourvoyèrent /fuʁ.vwa.jɛʁ/
	future	fourvoierai /fuʁ.vwa.ʁe/	fourvoieras /fuʁ.vwa.ʁa/	fourvoiera /fuʁ.vwa.ʁa/	fourvoierons /fuʁ.vwa.ʁɔ̃/	fourvoierez /fuʁ.vwa.ʁe/	fourvoieront /fuʁ.vwa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	fourvoierais /fuʁ.vwa.ʁɛ/	fourvoierais /fuʁ.vwa.ʁɛ/	fourvoierait /fuʁ.vwa.ʁɛ/	fourvoierions /fuʁ.vwa.ʁjɔ̃/	fourvoieriez /fuʁ.vwa.ʁje/	fourvoieraient /fuʁ.vwa.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	fourvoie /fuʁ.vwa/	fourvoies /fuʁ.vwa/	fourvoie /fuʁ.vwa/	fourvoyions /fuʁ.vwaj.jɔ̃/	fourvoyiez /fuʁ.vwaj.je/	fourvoient /fuʁ.vwa/
	imperfect2	fourvoyasse /fuʁ.vwa.jas/	fourvoyasses /fuʁ.vwa.jas/	fourvoyât /fuʁ.vwa.ja/	fourvoyassions /fuʁ.vwa.ja.sjɔ̃/	fourvoyassiez /fuʁ.vwa.ja.sje/	fourvoyassent /fuʁ.vwa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	fourvoie /fuʁ.vwa/	—	fourvoyons /fuʁ.vwa.jɔ̃/	fourvoyez /fuʁ.vwa.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).

Further reading

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