balayer
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ba.lɛ.je/ ~ /ba.le.je/
Audio: (file) Audio (France (Vosges)): (file) Audio (France (Vosges)): (file) Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (France (Somain)): (file)
Verb
balayer
- to sweep
- to sweep aside, brush aside
- (of a long skirt) to drag on the floor
- (military) to rake (sweep with gunfire)
- (politics) to make a clean sweep
Conjugation
This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer), the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).
Conjugation of balayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | balayer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | balayant /ba.lɛ.jɑ̃/ or /ba.le.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | balayé /ba.lɛ.je/ or /ba.le.je/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | balaye or balaie /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
balayes or balaies /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
balaye or balaie /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
balayons /ba.lɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ba.le.jɔ̃/ |
balayez /ba.lɛ.je/ or /ba.le.je/ |
balayent or balaient /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
| imperfect | balayais /ba.lɛ.jɛ/ or /ba.le.jɛ/ |
balayais /ba.lɛ.jɛ/ or /ba.le.jɛ/ |
balayait /ba.lɛ.jɛ/ or /ba.le.jɛ/ |
balayions /ba.lɛj.jɔ̃/ |
balayiez /ba.lɛj.je/ |
balayaient /ba.lɛ.jɛ/ or /ba.le.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | balayai /ba.lɛ.je/ or /ba.le.je/ |
balayas /ba.lɛ.ja/ or /ba.le.ja/ |
balaya /ba.lɛ.ja/ or /ba.le.ja/ |
balayâmes /ba.lɛ.jam/ or /ba.le.jam/ |
balayâtes /ba.lɛ.jat/ or /ba.le.jat/ |
balayèrent /ba.lɛ.jɛʁ/ or /ba.le.jɛʁ/ | |
| future | balayerai or balaierai /ba.lɛj.ʁe/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁe/ or /ba.le.ʁe/ |
balayeras or balaieras /ba.lɛj.ʁa/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁa/ or /ba.le.ʁa/ |
balayera or balaiera /ba.lɛj.ʁa/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁa/ or /ba.le.ʁa/ |
balayerons or balaierons /ba.lɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ba.le.ʁɔ̃/ |
balayerez or balaierez /ba.lɛj.ʁe/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁe/ or /ba.le.ʁe/ |
balayeront or balaieront /ba.lɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ba.le.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | balayerais or balaierais /ba.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ba.le.ʁɛ/ |
balayerais or balaierais /ba.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ba.le.ʁɛ/ |
balayerait or balaierait /ba.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ba.le.ʁɛ/ |
balayerions or balaierions /ba.lɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ba.le.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ba.le.ʁjɔ̃/ |
balayeriez or balaieriez /ba.lɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /ba.le.jə.ʁje/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁje/ or /ba.le.ʁje/ |
balayeraient or balaieraient /ba.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ba.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ba.le.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 | balaye or balaie /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
balayes or balaies /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
balaye or balaie /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
balayions /ba.lɛj.jɔ̃/ |
balayiez /ba.lɛj.je/ |
balayent or balaient /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
| imperfect2 | balayasse /ba.lɛ.jas/ or /ba.le.jas/ |
balayasses /ba.lɛ.jas/ or /ba.le.jas/ |
balayât /ba.lɛ.ja/ or /ba.le.ja/ |
balayassions /ba.lɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /ba.le.ja.sjɔ̃/ |
balayassiez /ba.lɛ.ja.sje/ or /ba.le.ja.sje/ |
balayassent /ba.lɛ.jas/ or /ba.le.jas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | balaye or balaie /ba.lɛj/ or /ba.lɛ/ |
— | balayons /ba.lɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ba.le.jɔ̃/ |
balayez /ba.lɛ.je/ or /ba.le.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
- balayable
- balayer devant sa porte
- balayette
Related terms
Further reading
- “balayer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012