Inherited from Old French absoudre, assoudre, from Latin absolvere (“to absolve”). The forms with -lv- are of learned origin; spoken Middle French had developed analogical forms with -oud-, which are attested until the 18th century (absoudons, absoudait etc.). The -b- must be learned as well, although it appeared very early on.
absoudre
| infinitive | simple | absoudre | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | absolvant /ap.sɔl.vɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | absous /ap.su/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | absous /ap.su/ |
absous /ap.su/ |
absout /ap.su/ |
absolvons /ap.sɔl.vɔ̃/ |
absolvez /ap.sɔl.ve/ |
absolvent /ap.sɔlv/ |
| imperfect | absolvais /ap.sɔl.vɛ/ |
absolvais /ap.sɔl.vɛ/ |
absolvait /ap.sɔl.vɛ/ |
absolvions /ap.sɔl.vjɔ̃/ |
absolviez /ap.sɔl.vje/ |
absolvaient /ap.sɔl.vɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | absolus /ap.sɔ.ly/ |
absolus /ap.sɔ.ly/ |
absolut /ap.sɔ.ly/ |
absolûmes /ap.sɔ.lym/ |
absolûtes /ap.sɔ.lyt/ |
absolurent /ap.sɔ.lyʁ/ | |
| future | absoudrai /ap.su.dʁe/ |
absoudras /ap.su.dʁa/ |
absoudra /ap.su.dʁa/ |
absoudrons /ap.su.dʁɔ̃/ |
absoudrez /ap.su.dʁe/ |
absoudront /ap.su.dʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | absoudrais /ap.su.dʁɛ/ |
absoudrais /ap.su.dʁɛ/ |
absoudrait /ap.su.dʁɛ/ |
absoudrions /ap.su.dʁi.jɔ̃/ |
absoudriez /ap.su.dʁi.je/ |
absoudraient /ap.su.dʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | absolve /ap.sɔlv/ |
absolves /ap.sɔlv/ |
absolve /ap.sɔlv/ |
absolvions /ap.sɔl.vjɔ̃/ |
absolviez /ap.sɔl.vje/ |
absolvent /ap.sɔlv/ |
| imperfect2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | absous /ap.su/ |
— | absolvons /ap.sɔl.vɔ̃/ |
absolvez /ap.sɔl.ve/ |
— | |
| 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 , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||