Inherited from Middle French resver, from Old French resver (“to consider, reflect, be delirious”), of uncertain origin. The Trésor de la langue française informatisé links it back either to an unattested *esver (“to wander”) or to Latin *reexvadō, from re- + ex- + evadō. The Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch links it back to *reexvagus, hence the same as the first proposal by the Trésor de la langue française informatisé. Compare Old English rǣswan (“to consider, suspect, conjecture”), of similar form and meaning.
rêver
| infinitive | simple | rêver | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | rêvant /ʁɛ.vɑ̃/ or /ʁe.vɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | rêvé /ʁɛ.ve/ or /ʁe.ve/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | rêve /ʁɛv/ |
rêves /ʁɛv/ |
rêve /ʁɛv/ |
rêvons /ʁɛ.vɔ̃/ or /ʁe.vɔ̃/ |
rêvez /ʁɛ.ve/ or /ʁe.ve/ |
rêvent /ʁɛv/ |
| imperfect | rêvais /ʁɛ.vɛ/ or /ʁe.vɛ/ |
rêvais /ʁɛ.vɛ/ or /ʁe.vɛ/ |
rêvait /ʁɛ.vɛ/ or /ʁe.vɛ/ |
rêvions /ʁɛ.vjɔ̃/ or /ʁe.vjɔ̃/ |
rêviez /ʁɛ.vje/ or /ʁe.vje/ |
rêvaient /ʁɛ.vɛ/ or /ʁe.vɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | rêvai /ʁɛ.ve/ or /ʁe.ve/ |
rêvas /ʁɛ.va/ or /ʁe.va/ |
rêva /ʁɛ.va/ or /ʁe.va/ |
rêvâmes /ʁɛ.vam/ or /ʁe.vam/ |
rêvâtes /ʁɛ.vat/ or /ʁe.vat/ |
rêvèrent /ʁɛ.vɛʁ/ or /ʁe.vɛʁ/ | |
| future | rêverai /ʁɛ.vʁe/ or /ʁe.vʁe/ |
rêveras /ʁɛ.vʁa/ or /ʁe.vʁa/ |
rêvera /ʁɛ.vʁa/ or /ʁe.vʁa/ |
rêverons /ʁɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /ʁe.vʁɔ̃/ |
rêverez /ʁɛ.vʁe/ or /ʁe.vʁe/ |
rêveront /ʁɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /ʁe.vʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | rêverais /ʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁe.vʁɛ/ |
rêverais /ʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁe.vʁɛ/ |
rêverait /ʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁe.vʁɛ/ |
rêverions /ʁɛ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁe.və.ʁjɔ̃/ |
rêveriez /ʁɛ.və.ʁje/ or /ʁe.və.ʁje/ |
rêveraient /ʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁe.vʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | rêve /ʁɛv/ |
rêves /ʁɛv/ |
rêve /ʁɛv/ |
rêvions /ʁɛ.vjɔ̃/ or /ʁe.vjɔ̃/ |
rêviez /ʁɛ.vje/ or /ʁe.vje/ |
rêvent /ʁɛv/ |
| imperfect2 | rêvasse /ʁɛ.vas/ or /ʁe.vas/ |
rêvasses /ʁɛ.vas/ or /ʁe.vas/ |
rêvât /ʁɛ.va/ or /ʁe.va/ |
rêvassions /ʁɛ.va.sjɔ̃/ or /ʁe.va.sjɔ̃/ |
rêvassiez /ʁɛ.va.sje/ or /ʁe.va.sje/ |
rêvassent /ʁɛ.vas/ or /ʁe.vas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | rêve /ʁɛv/ |
— | rêvons /ʁɛ.vɔ̃/ or /ʁe.vɔ̃/ |
rêvez /ʁɛ.ve/ or /ʁe.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). | |||||||