embrouiller

French

Etymology

From en- +‎ brouiller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.bʁu.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

embrouiller

1. to entangle

   Synonym: emberlificoter

2. (informal) to bamboozle, to confuse
3. (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		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
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: 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).

Descendants

• → Catalan: embrollar
• → English: embroil
• → Spanish: embrollar

Further reading

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