Inherited from Old French savoir/eir, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre.
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The now-obsolete spelling sçavoir owes its ⟨ç⟩ to the Latin scīre (“to know”), which was long assumed to be the etymon of the French verb. The 1SG present indicative sais comes from Old French sai < Vulgar Latin */ˈsajo/ ≠ Classical Latin sapiō. The inflections with ⟨ch⟩ reflect regular palatalization of an original , as in sache < Old French sacheṭ < */ˈsa(p)t͡ʃat/ < */ˈsapjat/ < Classical Latin sapiat (cf. French seiche < Latin sēpia). The past participle su comes from Old French seü < */saˈ(β)udo/ < Vulgar Latin */saˈputu/, most likely influenced by Latin perfect verb forms such as sapuī. |
savoir
| infinitive | simple | savoir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | sachant /sa.ʃɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | su /sy/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | sais /sɛ/ |
sais /sɛ/ |
sait /sɛ/ |
savons /sa.vɔ̃/ |
savez /sa.ve/ |
savent /sav/ |
| imperfect | savais /sa.vɛ/ |
savais /sa.vɛ/ |
savait /sa.vɛ/ |
savions /sa.vjɔ̃/ |
saviez /sa.vje/ |
savaient /sa.vɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | sus /sy/ |
sus /sy/ |
sut /sy/ |
sûmes /sym/ |
sûtes /syt/ |
surent /syʁ/ | |
| future | saurai /sɔ.ʁe/ or /so.ʁe/ |
sauras /sɔ.ʁa/ or /so.ʁa/ |
saura /sɔ.ʁa/ or /so.ʁa/ |
saurons /sɔ.ʁɔ̃/ or /so.ʁɔ̃/ |
saurez /sɔ.ʁe/ or /so.ʁe/ |
sauront /sɔ.ʁɔ̃/ or /so.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | saurais /sɔ.ʁɛ/ or /so.ʁɛ/ |
saurais /sɔ.ʁɛ/ or /so.ʁɛ/ |
saurait /sɔ.ʁɛ/ or /so.ʁɛ/ |
saurions /sɔ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /so.ʁjɔ̃/ |
sauriez /sɔ.ʁje/ or /so.ʁje/ |
sauraient /sɔ.ʁɛ/ or /so.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 | sache /saʃ/ |
saches /saʃ/ |
sache /saʃ/ |
sachions /sa.ʃjɔ̃/ |
sachiez /sa.ʃje/ |
sachent /saʃ/ |
| imperfect2 | susse /sys/ |
susses /sys/ |
sût /sy/ |
sussions /sy.sjɔ̃/ |
sussiez /sy.sje/ |
sussent /sys/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | sache /saʃ/ |
— | sachons /sa.ʃɔ̃/ |
sachez /sa.ʃe/ |
— | |
| 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). | |||||||
savoir m (plural savoirs)
Inherited from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere (“taste, know”).
savoir
This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem sev distinct from the unstressed stem sav, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | savoir | avoir seü | |||||
| gerund | en savant, sachant | gerund of avoir + past participle | |||||
| present participle | savant, sachant | ||||||
| past participle | seü | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses |
present | sai | ses | set | savons | savez | sevent |
| imperfect | savoie, saveie | savoies, saveies | savoit, saveit | saviiens, saviens | saviiez, saviez | savoient, saveient | |
| preterite | soi | seüs | sot | seümes | seüstes | sorent | |
| future | savrai, sarai | savras, saras | savra, sara | savrons, sarons | savroiz, savreiz, savrez, saroiz, sareiz, sarez | savront, saront | |
| conditional | savroie, savreie, saroie, sareie | savroies, savreies, saroies, sareies | savroit, savreit, saroit, sareit | savriiens, savriens, sariiens, sariens | savriiez, savriez, sariiez, sariez | savroient, savreient, saroient, sareient | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | present tense of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | preterite tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses |
present | sache | saches | sache | sachiens, sachons | sachiez | sachent |
| imperfect | seüsse | seüsses | seüst | seüssons, seüssiens | seüssoiz, seüssez, seüssiez | seüssent | |
| compound tenses |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | sache | — | sachiens, sachons | sachiez | — | ||
savoir oblique singular, m (oblique plural savoirs, nominative singular savoirs, nominative plural savoir)