desservir

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.sɛʁ.viʁ/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French deservir, from Latin dēservīre.

Verb

desservir

1. (religion, transitive) to serve (be the pastor of a church)
2. (of a transit service or other public service or similar) to serve, to have as or in its catchment area

   Ce train dessert les grandes villes de la région.

   This train serves the big towns in the region.

   Les résidents s’unissent contre la fermeture du seul bureau de poste qui dessert leur quartier.

   The residents are uniting against the closure of the only post office serving the neighbourhood.

Conjugation

This is one of a fairly large group of irregular -ir verbs that are all conjugated the same way. Other members of this group include sortir and dormir. The most significant difference between these verbs' conjugation and that of the regular -ir verbs is that these verbs' conjugation does not use the infix -iss-. Further, this conjugation has the forms (je, tu) dessers and (il) dessert in the present indicative and imperative, whereas a regular -ir verb would have *desservis and *desservit (as in the past historic).

Derived terms

• desserte

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old French desservir, from dé- +‎ servir; cf. etymology 1.

Verb

desservir

1. (transitive) to clear, clear away (e.g. a table)

Conjugation

This is one of a fairly large group of irregular -ir verbs that are all conjugated the same way. Other members of this group include sortir and dormir. The most significant difference between these verbs' conjugation and that of the regular -ir verbs is that these verbs' conjugation does not use the infix -iss-. Further, this conjugation has the forms (je, tu) dessers and (il) dessert in the present indicative and imperative, whereas a regular -ir verb would have *desservis and *desservit (as in the past historic).

Etymology 3

From servir, with the prefix dé- (from Latin dis-).

Verb

desservir

1. (transitive) to do a disservice, to perform ill offices (to someone)

Conjugation

This is one of a fairly large group of irregular -ir verbs that are all conjugated the same way. Other members of this group include sortir and dormir. The most significant difference between these verbs' conjugation and that of the regular -ir verbs is that these verbs' conjugation does not use the infix -iss-. Further, this conjugation has the forms (je, tu) dessers and (il) dessert in the present indicative and imperative, whereas a regular -ir verb would have *desservis and *desservit (as in the past historic).

Further reading

• “desservir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.