clouer

French

Etymology

From clou (“nail”), or alternatively from Late Latin clāvāre, from Latin clāvus. Compare Italian chiavare, Catalan clavar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klu.e/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: clouai, cloué, clouée, clouées, cloués, clouez

Verb

clouer

1. to nail (to attach using a nail)
2. (figurative) to stick (to attach)
3. (figurative) to pin down
4. (vulgar) to nail, shag, fuck

Conjugation

Conjugation of clouer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	clouer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	clouant /klu.ɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cloué /klu.e/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cloue /klu/	cloues /klu/	cloue /klu/	clouons /klu.ɔ̃/	clouez /klu.e/	clouent /klu/
	imperfect	clouais /klu.ɛ/	clouais /klu.ɛ/	clouait /klu.ɛ/	clouions /klu.jɔ̃/	clouiez /klu.je/	clouaient /klu.ɛ/
	past historic2	clouai /klu.e/	clouas /klu.a/	cloua /klu.a/	clouâmes /klu.am/	clouâtes /klu.at/	clouèrent /klu.ɛʁ/
	future	clouerai /klu.ʁe/	cloueras /klu.ʁa/	clouera /klu.ʁa/	clouerons /klu.ʁɔ̃/	clouerez /klu.ʁe/	cloueront /klu.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	clouerais /klu.ʁɛ/	clouerais /klu.ʁɛ/	clouerait /klu.ʁɛ/	clouerions /klu.ʁjɔ̃/	cloueriez /klu.ʁje/	cloueraient /klu.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	cloue /klu/	cloues /klu/	cloue /klu/	clouions /klu.jɔ̃/	clouiez /klu.je/	clouent /klu/
	imperfect2	clouasse /klu.as/	clouasses /klu.as/	clouât /klu.a/	clouassions /klu.a.sjɔ̃/	clouassiez /klu.a.sje/	clouassent /klu.as/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cloue /klu/	—	clouons /klu.ɔ̃/	clouez /klu.e/	—
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

• cloué au lit
• clouer au pilori
• clouer au sol
• clouer le bec

 

Related terms

• déclouer
• enclouer

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• couler, croule, croulé