tournoyer

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuʁ.nwa.je/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

tournoyer

1. (intransitive, of smoke, leaves, snow flakes) to whirl, to swirl
2. (intransitive, of water) to eddy, to swirl
3. (intransitive) to whirl, to swirl, to twirl, to whirl round, to swirl round, to twirl round
4. (intransitive, of a bird) to circle, to circle round, to wheel

faire tournoyer

1. (transitive) to twirl, to swing (e.g. a lasso)

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 tournoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tournoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tournoyant /tuʁ.nwa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tournoyé /tuʁ.nwa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tournoie /tuʁ.nwa/	tournoies /tuʁ.nwa/	tournoie /tuʁ.nwa/	tournoyons /tuʁ.nwa.jɔ̃/	tournoyez /tuʁ.nwa.je/	tournoient /tuʁ.nwa/
	imperfect	tournoyais /tuʁ.nwa.jɛ/	tournoyais /tuʁ.nwa.jɛ/	tournoyait /tuʁ.nwa.jɛ/	tournoyions /tuʁ.nwaj.jɔ̃/	tournoyiez /tuʁ.nwaj.je/	tournoyaient /tuʁ.nwa.jɛ/
	past historic2	tournoyai /tuʁ.nwa.je/	tournoyas /tuʁ.nwa.ja/	tournoya /tuʁ.nwa.ja/	tournoyâmes /tuʁ.nwa.jam/	tournoyâtes /tuʁ.nwa.jat/	tournoyèrent /tuʁ.nwa.jɛʁ/
	future	tournoierai /tuʁ.nwa.ʁe/	tournoieras /tuʁ.nwa.ʁa/	tournoiera /tuʁ.nwa.ʁa/	tournoierons /tuʁ.nwa.ʁɔ̃/	tournoierez /tuʁ.nwa.ʁe/	tournoieront /tuʁ.nwa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tournoierais /tuʁ.nwa.ʁɛ/	tournoierais /tuʁ.nwa.ʁɛ/	tournoierait /tuʁ.nwa.ʁɛ/	tournoierions /tuʁ.nwa.ʁjɔ̃/	tournoieriez /tuʁ.nwa.ʁje/	tournoieraient /tuʁ.nwa.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	tournoie /tuʁ.nwa/	tournoies /tuʁ.nwa/	tournoie /tuʁ.nwa/	tournoyions /tuʁ.nwaj.jɔ̃/	tournoyiez /tuʁ.nwaj.je/	tournoient /tuʁ.nwa/
	imperfect2	tournoyasse /tuʁ.nwa.jas/	tournoyasses /tuʁ.nwa.jas/	tournoyât /tuʁ.nwa.ja/	tournoyassions /tuʁ.nwa.ja.sjɔ̃/	tournoyassiez /tuʁ.nwa.ja.sje/	tournoyassent /tuʁ.nwa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tournoie /tuʁ.nwa/	—	tournoyons /tuʁ.nwa.jɔ̃/	tournoyez /tuʁ.nwa.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 only usable with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “tournoyer” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Middle French

Etymology

Old French tornoier.

Verb

tournoyer

1. to participate in a tourney (medieval tournament); to tourney

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of tournoyer

infinitive	simple	tournoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	tournoyant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		tournoyé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tournoye	tournoyes	tournoye	tournoyons	tournoyez	tournoyent
	imperfect	tournoyois, tournoyoys	tournoyois, tournoyoys	tournoyoit, tournoyoyt	tournoyions, tournoyyons	tournoyiez, tournoyyez	tournoyoient, tournoyoyent
	past historic	tournoya	tournoyas	tournoya	tournoyasmes	tournoyastes	tournoyerent
	future	tournoyerai, tournoyeray	tournoyeras	tournoyera	tournoyerons	tournoyerez	tournoyeront
	conditional	tournoyerois, tournoyeroys	tournoyerois, tournoyeroys	tournoyeroit, tournoyeroyt	tournoyerions, tournoyeryons	tournoyeriez, tournoyeryez	tournoyeroient, tournoyeroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	tournoye	tournoyes	tournoye	tournoyons	tournoyez	tournoyent
	imperfect	tournoyasse	tournoyasses	tournoyast	tournoyassions	tournoyassiez	tournoyassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tournoye	—	tournoyons	tournoyez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: tournoyer

References

• tournoyer on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)