embrayer

French

Etymology

From en- +‎ braie +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.je/, /ɑ̃.bʁe.je/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

embrayer

1. to engage (to mesh or interlock)
2. to engage, set in motion
3. (colloquial) to begin, engage (to draw into conversation)
   • 2019, Alain Damasio, chapter 5, in Les furtifs [The Stealthies], La Volte, →ISBN:

     — Qué tal, tracier ? embraya Agüero dans le brasier de ma souffrance qui me ravageait comme une joie.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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 embrayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	embrayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	embrayant /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɑ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		embrayé /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.je/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	embraye or embraie /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/	embrayes or embraies /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/	embraye or embraie /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/	embrayons /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɔ̃/	embrayez /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.je/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.je/	embrayent or embraient /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/
	imperfect	embrayais /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɛ/	embrayais /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɛ/	embrayait /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɛ/	embrayions /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.jɔ̃/	embrayiez /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.je/	embrayaient /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɛ/
	past historic2	embrayai /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.je/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.je/	embrayas /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ja/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ja/	embraya /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ja/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ja/	embrayâmes /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jam/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jam/	embrayâtes /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jat/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jat/	embrayèrent /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɛʁ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɛʁ/
	future	embrayerai or embraierai /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁe/	embrayeras or embraieras /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁa/	embrayera or embraiera /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁa/	embrayerons or embraierons /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁɔ̃/	embrayerez or embraierez /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁe/	embrayeront or embraieront /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	embrayerais or embraierais /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁɛ/	embrayerais or embraierais /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁɛ/	embrayerait or embraierait /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁɛ/	embrayerions or embraierions /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁjɔ̃/	embrayeriez or embraieriez /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jə.ʁje/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁje/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ʁje/	embrayeraient or embraieraient /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.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	embraye or embraie /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/	embrayes or embraies /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/	embraye or embraie /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/	embrayions /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.jɔ̃/	embrayiez /ɑ̃.bʁɛj.je/	embrayent or embraient /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/
	imperfect2	embrayasse /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jas/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jas/	embrayasses /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jas/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jas/	embrayât /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ja/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ja/	embrayassions /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ja.sjɔ̃/	embrayassiez /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.ja.sje/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.ja.sje/	embrayassent /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jas/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	embraye or embraie /ɑ̃.bʁɛj/ or /ɑ̃.bʁɛ/	—	embrayons /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.jɔ̃/	embrayez /ɑ̃.bʁɛ.je/ or /ɑ̃.bʁe.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

• embrayage

Further reading

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