pinailler

French

Etymology

Uncertain

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi.na.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

pinailler

1. (colloquial, intransitive) nitpick, split hairs (to correct minutiae or find fault)

Conjugation

Conjugation of pinailler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	pinailler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	pinaillant /pi.na.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		pinaillé /pi.na.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	pinaille /pi.naj/	pinailles /pi.naj/	pinaille /pi.naj/	pinaillons /pi.na.jɔ̃/	pinaillez /pi.na.je/	pinaillent /pi.naj/
	imperfect	pinaillais /pi.na.jɛ/	pinaillais /pi.na.jɛ/	pinaillait /pi.na.jɛ/	pinaillions /pi.naj.jɔ̃/	pinailliez /pi.naj.je/	pinaillaient /pi.na.jɛ/
	past historic2	pinaillai /pi.na.je/	pinaillas /pi.na.ja/	pinailla /pi.na.ja/	pinaillâmes /pi.na.jam/	pinaillâtes /pi.na.jat/	pinaillèrent /pi.na.jɛʁ/
	future	pinaillerai /pi.naj.ʁe/	pinailleras /pi.naj.ʁa/	pinaillera /pi.naj.ʁa/	pinaillerons /pi.naj.ʁɔ̃/	pinaillerez /pi.naj.ʁe/	pinailleront /pi.naj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	pinaillerais /pi.naj.ʁɛ/	pinaillerais /pi.naj.ʁɛ/	pinaillerait /pi.naj.ʁɛ/	pinaillerions /pi.na.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	pinailleriez /pi.na.jə.ʁje/	pinailleraient /pi.naj.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	pinaille /pi.naj/	pinailles /pi.naj/	pinaille /pi.naj/	pinaillions /pi.naj.jɔ̃/	pinailliez /pi.naj.je/	pinaillent /pi.naj/
	imperfect2	pinaillasse /pi.na.jas/	pinaillasses /pi.na.jas/	pinaillât /pi.na.ja/	pinaillassions /pi.na.ja.sjɔ̃/	pinaillassiez /pi.na.ja.sje/	pinaillassent /pi.na.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	pinaille /pi.naj/	—	pinaillons /pi.na.jɔ̃/	pinaillez /pi.na.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).

Derived terms

• pinaillage
• pinaillerie
• pinailleur

Further reading

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