clouer

French

Etymology

From clou (“nail”), or alternatively from Late Latin clāvāre, from Latin clāvus. Compare Italian chiavare, Catalan clavar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klu.e/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: clouai, cloué, clouée, clouées, cloués, clouez

Verb

clouer

1. to nail (to attach using a nail)
2. (figurative) to stick (to attach)
3. (figurative) to pin down
4. (vulgar) to nail, shag, fuck

Conjugation

Conjugation of clouer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	clouer
	compound	avoir past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	clouant /klu.ɑ̃/
	compound	ayant past participle
past participle		cloué /klu.e/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cloue /klu/	cloues /klu/	cloue /klu/	clouons /klu.ɔ̃/	clouez /klu.e/	clouent /klu/
	imperfect	clouais /klu.ɛ/	clouais /klu.ɛ/	clouait /klu.ɛ/	clouions /klu.jɔ̃/	clouiez /klu.je/	clouaient /klu.ɛ/
	past historic2	clouai /klu.e/	clouas /klu.a/	cloua /klu.a/	clouâmes /klu.am/	clouâtes /klu.at/	clouèrent /klu.ɛʁ/
	future	clouerai /klu.ʁe/	cloueras /klu.ʁa/	clouera /klu.ʁa/	clouerons /klu.ʁɔ̃/	clouerez /klu.ʁe/	cloueront /klu.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	clouerais /klu.ʁɛ/	clouerais /klu.ʁɛ/	clouerait /klu.ʁɛ/	clouerions /klu.ʁjɔ̃/	cloueriez /klu.ʁje/	cloueraient /klu.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	cloue /klu/	cloues /klu/	cloue /klu/	clouions /klu.jɔ̃/	clouiez /klu.je/	clouent /klu/
	imperfect2	clouasse /klu.as/	clouasses /klu.as/	clouât /klu.a/	clouassions /klu.a.sjɔ̃/	clouassiez /klu.a.sje/	clouassent /klu.as/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cloue /klu/	—	clouons /klu.ɔ̃/	clouez /klu.e/	—
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

• cloué au lit
• clouer au pilori
• clouer au sol
• clouer le bec

 

Related terms

• déclouer
• enclouer

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• couler, croule, croulé