renifler
French
Etymology
From re- + nifler (“to irritate, annoy”), from the same Germanic root as Italian niffo, niffa (“snout”); related to German Low German Niff (“nose, mouth, bill”), Dutch neb (“nose, beak”), English neb (“nose, beak, face”). More at neb.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʁə.ni.fle/
Audio: (file)
Verb
renifler
- to sniff
- to smell (sense with the nose)
- 1920–1921, Marcel Proust, Le Côté de Guermantes [The Guermantes Way] (À la recherche du temps perdu)[1], part 2:
- Ses narines ne cesseront de renifler anxieusement l'odeur qu'il devrait, semble-t-il, essayer de ne pas sentir et qu'il cherchera chaque fois à faire adhérer, par une connaissance plus exacte, à son odorat incommodé.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (figurative) to turn up one's nose (at)
Conjugation
Conjugation of renifler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | renifler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | reniflant /ʁə.ni.flɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | reniflé /ʁə.ni.fle/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | renifle /ʁə.nifl/ |
renifles /ʁə.nifl/ |
renifle /ʁə.nifl/ |
reniflons /ʁə.ni.flɔ̃/ |
reniflez /ʁə.ni.fle/ |
reniflent /ʁə.nifl/ |
| imperfect | reniflais /ʁə.ni.flɛ/ |
reniflais /ʁə.ni.flɛ/ |
reniflait /ʁə.ni.flɛ/ |
reniflions /ʁə.ni.fli.jɔ̃/ |
renifliez /ʁə.ni.fli.je/ |
reniflaient /ʁə.ni.flɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | reniflai /ʁə.ni.fle/ |
reniflas /ʁə.ni.fla/ |
renifla /ʁə.ni.fla/ |
reniflâmes /ʁə.ni.flam/ |
reniflâtes /ʁə.ni.flat/ |
reniflèrent /ʁə.ni.flɛʁ/ | |
| future | reniflerai /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁe/ |
renifleras /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁa/ |
reniflera /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁa/ |
reniflerons /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɔ̃/ |
reniflerez /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁe/ |
renifleront /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | reniflerais /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɛ/ |
reniflerais /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɛ/ |
reniflerait /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁɛ/ |
reniflerions /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
renifleriez /ʁə.ni.flə.ʁje/ |
renifleraient /ʁə.ni.flə.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 | renifle /ʁə.nifl/ |
renifles /ʁə.nifl/ |
renifle /ʁə.nifl/ |
reniflions /ʁə.ni.fli.jɔ̃/ |
renifliez /ʁə.ni.fli.je/ |
reniflent /ʁə.nifl/ |
| imperfect2 | reniflasse /ʁə.ni.flas/ |
reniflasses /ʁə.ni.flas/ |
reniflât /ʁə.ni.fla/ |
reniflassions /ʁə.ni.fla.sjɔ̃/ |
reniflassiez /ʁə.ni.fla.sje/ |
reniflassent /ʁə.ni.flas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | renifle /ʁə.nifl/ |
— | reniflons /ʁə.ni.flɔ̃/ |
reniflez /ʁə.ni.fle/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Related terms
Further reading
- “renifler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.