savoir
French
Alternative forms
- sçavoir (ca. 15th–18th c.)
Etymology
Inherited from Old French savoir, saveir, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre (“taste, know”).
| Comments |
|---|
|
For centuries it was spelled sçavoir, with a silent ⟨ç⟩ inserted per a false etymology deriving the verb from Latin scīre (“know”). First person singular indicative present form comes from altered *saiō (compare ai ← *haiō ← habeō). The conjugations with /ʃ/ reflect a normal phonetic development. Latin sapiat > /ˈsapjat/ > */ˈsaptʃat/ > /ˈsatʃəθ/ > /ˈsaʃə/ > /saʃ/ ⟨sache⟩. Compare the evolution of approcher, hache, or seiche. The past participle, the past historic and subjunctive imperfect stem su(-) comes from *sapūtus. |
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sa.vwaʁ/
audio (file) - Rhymes: -waʁ
Verb
savoir
- to know (something)
- Savais-tu qu’il parle si bien l’anglais?
- Did you know that he speaks English so well?
- Comment savait-il que j’étais là?
- How did he know that I was there?
- Il est difficile de savoir si elle ment.
- It's difficult to know if she's lying.
- Il tire cette approche en inventant une situation initiale, dans laquelle on interrogerait les individus sur la forme qu’ils voudraient d’une société sans qu’ils sachent quelle place ils y auraient.
- He derives this approach by inventing an initial situation, in which individuals would be questioned about the form they would like from a society without them knowing what place they would have in it.
- Difficile à savoir (expression; compare Difficile à dire, voir, faire)
- to know how (to do something)
- Savez-vous nager?
- Do you know how to swim?
- to be able to, to be apt to (especially in the negative or interrogative conditional; used in the positive in Belgium)
- 2021, Zaz, Tout là-haut:
- Si on s’en allait tout là-haut pour mieux s’imprégner des couleurs, saurions-nous faire taire notre égo ?
- If we went up there to better soak up the colours, would we be able to silence our ego?
- Il ne saurait tarder que...
- It cannot/will not be long before...
- «Il ne saurait être considéré comme un acte de résistance puisque le Hamas a cessé la résistance dans la bande de Gaza», a poursuivi M. Abbas.
- "It cannot be considered an act of resistance, as Hamas has ceased the resistance in the Gaza strip", continued Mr. Abbas.
- (Le Devoir, 3 September 2010)
- to find out
- Nous devons savoir pourquoi il a fait ça.
- We have to find out why he did this.
Usage notes
- To translate "know" in the sense "to be acquainted with", the verb connaître is used.
Conjugation
Conjugation of savoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| 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 [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
- à ce que je sache
- à ne savoir qu’en faire
- à savoir
- allez savoir
- au vu et au su de
- faire savoir
- je ne sais pas
- je ne sais quoi
- ne pas être sans savoir
- ne pas savoir à quel saint se vouer
- ne pas savoir sur quel pied danser
- ne plus savoir où donner de la tête
- on ne sait jamais
- on ne saurait faire boire un âne qui n’a pas soif
- pour autant que je sache
- que je sache
- qui sait
- sait-on jamais
- savant
- savoir gré
- savoir y faire
- savoir-faire
- savoir-vivre
- tout vient à point à qui sait attendre
- va savoir
- va savoir pourquoi
- vous savez
Descendants
- Saint Dominican Creole French: savé
Further reading
- “savoir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Old French
Etymology
Inherited from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere (“taste, know”).
Verb
savoir
- to know
- c. 1180,, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:
- Mes qui l’apele il ne le sot :
Fantosme cuide que ce soit.- But he did not know who was calling him
He thought that it was a ghost
- But he did not know who was calling him
- c. 1155, Wace, Le Roman de Brut:
- Et mult sot de chiens et d'oisiax
- And he knew much about dogs and about birds
- to be skilled in
- molt bien savoit le latin
- he was very skilled in Latin
Conjugation
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 | — | ||
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.