nettoyer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French nettoyer, from Old French netoiier, a restructuring (based on net (“clean (adj.)”)) of Old French noiier (“to clean”), from Vulgar Latin *nitidiāre, a verb based on Latin nitidus (“shining, polished”), which took on the meaning of 'clean'. By surface analysis, net +‎ -oyer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛ.twa.je/, /ne.twa.je/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: nettoyé, nettoyés, nettoyée, nettoyées, nettoyai, nettoyez

Verb

nettoyer

1. to clean

   Nettoyer les fesses du bébé.

   Clean the baby's bottom

2. to wipe clean

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 nettoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	nettoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	nettoyant /nɛ.twa.jɑ̃/ or /ne.twa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		nettoyé /nɛ.twa.je/ or /ne.twa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	nettoie /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/	nettoies /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/	nettoie /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/	nettoyons /nɛ.twa.jɔ̃/ or /ne.twa.jɔ̃/	nettoyez /nɛ.twa.je/ or /ne.twa.je/	nettoient /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/
	imperfect	nettoyais /nɛ.twa.jɛ/ or /ne.twa.jɛ/	nettoyais /nɛ.twa.jɛ/ or /ne.twa.jɛ/	nettoyait /nɛ.twa.jɛ/ or /ne.twa.jɛ/	nettoyions /nɛ.twaj.jɔ̃/ or /ne.twaj.jɔ̃/	nettoyiez /nɛ.twaj.je/ or /ne.twaj.je/	nettoyaient /nɛ.twa.jɛ/ or /ne.twa.jɛ/
	past historic2	nettoyai /nɛ.twa.je/ or /ne.twa.je/	nettoyas /nɛ.twa.ja/ or /ne.twa.ja/	nettoya /nɛ.twa.ja/ or /ne.twa.ja/	nettoyâmes /nɛ.twa.jam/ or /ne.twa.jam/	nettoyâtes /nɛ.twa.jat/ or /ne.twa.jat/	nettoyèrent /nɛ.twa.jɛʁ/ or /ne.twa.jɛʁ/
	future	nettoierai /nɛ.twa.ʁe/ or /ne.twa.ʁe/	nettoieras /nɛ.twa.ʁa/ or /ne.twa.ʁa/	nettoiera /nɛ.twa.ʁa/ or /ne.twa.ʁa/	nettoierons /nɛ.twa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ne.twa.ʁɔ̃/	nettoierez /nɛ.twa.ʁe/ or /ne.twa.ʁe/	nettoieront /nɛ.twa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ne.twa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	nettoierais /nɛ.twa.ʁɛ/ or /ne.twa.ʁɛ/	nettoierais /nɛ.twa.ʁɛ/ or /ne.twa.ʁɛ/	nettoierait /nɛ.twa.ʁɛ/ or /ne.twa.ʁɛ/	nettoierions /nɛ.twa.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ne.twa.ʁjɔ̃/	nettoieriez /nɛ.twa.ʁje/ or /ne.twa.ʁje/	nettoieraient /nɛ.twa.ʁɛ/ or /ne.twa.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	nettoie /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/	nettoies /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/	nettoie /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/	nettoyions /nɛ.twaj.jɔ̃/ or /ne.twaj.jɔ̃/	nettoyiez /nɛ.twaj.je/ or /ne.twaj.je/	nettoient /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/
	imperfect2	nettoyasse /nɛ.twa.jas/ or /ne.twa.jas/	nettoyasses /nɛ.twa.jas/ or /ne.twa.jas/	nettoyât /nɛ.twa.ja/ or /ne.twa.ja/	nettoyassions /nɛ.twa.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /ne.twa.ja.sjɔ̃/	nettoyassiez /nɛ.twa.ja.sje/ or /ne.twa.ja.sje/	nettoyassent /nɛ.twa.jas/ or /ne.twa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	nettoie /nɛ.twa/ or /ne.twa/	—	nettoyons /nɛ.twa.jɔ̃/ or /ne.twa.jɔ̃/	nettoyez /nɛ.twa.je/ or /ne.twa.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

• nettoyer les écuries d’Augias

Related terms

• net
• nettoiement
• nettoyage
• nettoyeur

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French nettoier.

Verb

nettoyer

1. to clean

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of nettoyer

infinitive	simple	nettoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	nettoyant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		nettoyé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	nettoye	nettoyes	nettoye	nettoyons	nettoyez	nettoyent
	imperfect	nettoyois, nettoyoys	nettoyois, nettoyoys	nettoyoit, nettoyoyt	nettoyions, nettoyyons	nettoyiez, nettoyyez	nettoyoient, nettoyoyent
	past historic	nettoya	nettoyas	nettoya	nettoyasmes	nettoyastes	nettoyerent
	future	nettoyerai, nettoyeray	nettoyeras	nettoyera	nettoyerons	nettoyerez	nettoyeront
	conditional	nettoyerois, nettoyeroys	nettoyerois, nettoyeroys	nettoyeroit, nettoyeroyt	nettoyerions, nettoyeryons	nettoyeriez, nettoyeryez	nettoyeroient, nettoyeroyent
(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	nettoye	nettoyes	nettoye	nettoyons	nettoyez	nettoyent
	imperfect	nettoyasse	nettoyasses	nettoyast	nettoyassions	nettoyassiez	nettoyassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	nettoye	—	nettoyons	nettoyez	—
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: nettoyer