servir

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin servīre.

Verb

servir

1. to serve

Related terms

• siervu

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan servir, from Latin servīre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [sərˈbi]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [sərˈvi]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [seɾˈviɾ]
• Rhymes: -i(ɾ)
• Homophone: serví

Verb

servir (first-person singular present serveixo, first-person singular preterite serví, past participle servit)

1. to serve
2. to be useful, to be good for
   • 2019 September 18, Lluís Foix, “Negativisme desacomplexat”, in La Vanguardia‎^[1]:

     La veracitat que s’atorga a les enquestes d’opinió pot persuadir molta gent que la política i els polítics ja no serveixen per canviar les coses.

     The veracity granted to opinion polls can persuade many people that politics and politicians are no good anymore for changing things.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of servir (third conjugation, with -eix-)

infinitive			servir
gerund			servint
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		servit		servida
		plural		servits		servides
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	serveixo	serveixes	serveix	servim	serviu	serveixen
	imperfect	servia	servies	servia	servíem	servíeu	servien
	future	serviré	serviràs	servirà	servirem	servireu	serviran
	preterite	serví	servires	serví	servírem	servíreu	serviren
	conditional	serviria	serviries	serviria	serviríem	serviríeu	servirien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	serveixi	serveixis	serveixi	servim	serviu	serveixin
	imperfect	servís	servissis	servís	servíssim	servíssiu	servissin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	serveix	serveixi	servim	serviu	serveixin
	negative (no)	—	no serveixis	no serveixi	no servim	no serviu	no serveixin

Derived terms

• fer servir

Related terms

• serf
• servent
• servidor
• serviment

 

References

• “servir” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “servir”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “servir” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “servir” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French servir, from Old French servir, from Latin servīre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.viʁ/

• audio; “se servir de”:

  (file)

Verb

servir

1. to serve (to help in a shop; to bring a meal to someone)

   Je suis allée en France avec ma mère l’année dernière et le serveur nous a servi des escargots!

   I went to France last year with my mother and the waiter served us escargots!

   On vous a servie, madame?

   Have you been helped, madam?

2. to be used for
3. (intransitive) to be useful, to be of use, come in handy [with à ‘to/for someone’]
4. (sports) to serve (start a point with service)
5. (sports) to set up (pass to, in order to give a scoring chance)
6. (reflexive) to help oneself, to serve oneself
7. (reflexive) to use, make use [with de ‘of something’]

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) sers and (il) sert in the present indicative and imperative, whereas a regular -ir verb would have *servis and *servit (as in the past historic).

Conjugation of servir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	servir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	servant /sɛʁ.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		servi /sɛʁ.vi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sers /sɛʁ/	sers /sɛʁ/	sert /sɛʁ/	servons /sɛʁ.vɔ̃/	servez /sɛʁ.ve/	servent /sɛʁv/
	imperfect	servais /sɛʁ.vɛ/	servais /sɛʁ.vɛ/	servait /sɛʁ.vɛ/	servions /sɛʁ.vjɔ̃/	serviez /sɛʁ.vje/	servaient /sɛʁ.vɛ/
	past historic2	servis /sɛʁ.vi/	servis /sɛʁ.vi/	servit /sɛʁ.vi/	servîmes /sɛʁ.vim/	servîtes /sɛʁ.vit/	servirent /sɛʁ.viʁ/
	future	servirai /sɛʁ.vi.ʁe/	serviras /sɛʁ.vi.ʁa/	servira /sɛʁ.vi.ʁa/	servirons /sɛʁ.vi.ʁɔ̃/	servirez /sɛʁ.vi.ʁe/	serviront /sɛʁ.vi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	servirais /sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	servirais /sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	servirait /sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	servirions /sɛʁ.vi.ʁjɔ̃/	serviriez /sɛʁ.vi.ʁje/	serviraient /sɛʁ.vi.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	serve /sɛʁv/	serves /sɛʁv/	serve /sɛʁv/	servions /sɛʁ.vjɔ̃/	serviez /sɛʁ.vje/	servent /sɛʁv/
	imperfect2	servisse /sɛʁ.vis/	servisses /sɛʁ.vis/	servît /sɛʁ.vi/	servissions /sɛʁ.vi.sjɔ̃/	servissiez /sɛʁ.vi.sje/	servissent /sɛʁ.vis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sers /sɛʁ/	—	servons /sɛʁ.vɔ̃/	servez /sɛʁ.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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

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) sers and (il) sert in the present indicative and imperative, whereas a regular -ir verb would have *servis and *servit (as in the past historic).

Conjugation of se servir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se servir
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se servant /sə sɛʁ.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		servi /sɛʁ.vi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me sers /mə sɛʁ/	te sers /tə sɛʁ/	se sert /sə sɛʁ/	nous servons /nu sɛʁ.vɔ̃/	vous servez /vu sɛʁ.ve/	se servent /sə sɛʁv/
	imperfect	me servais /mə sɛʁ.vɛ/	te servais /tə sɛʁ.vɛ/	se servait /sə sɛʁ.vɛ/	nous servions /nu sɛʁ.vjɔ̃/	vous serviez /vu sɛʁ.vje/	se servaient /sə sɛʁ.vɛ/
	past historic2	me servis /mə sɛʁ.vi/	te servis /tə sɛʁ.vi/	se servit /sə sɛʁ.vi/	nous servîmes /nu sɛʁ.vim/	vous servîtes /vu sɛʁ.vit/	se servirent /sə sɛʁ.viʁ/
	future	me servirai /mə sɛʁ.vi.ʁe/	te serviras /tə sɛʁ.vi.ʁa/	se servira /sə sɛʁ.vi.ʁa/	nous servirons /nu sɛʁ.vi.ʁɔ̃/	vous servirez /vu sɛʁ.vi.ʁe/	se serviront /sə sɛʁ.vi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me servirais /mə sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	te servirais /tə sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	se servirait /sə sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	nous servirions /nu sɛʁ.vi.ʁjɔ̃/	vous serviriez /vu sɛʁ.vi.ʁje/	se serviraient /sə sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me serve /mə sɛʁv/	te serves /tə sɛʁv/	se serve /sə sɛʁv/	nous servions /nu sɛʁ.vjɔ̃/	vous serviez /vu sɛʁ.vje/	se servent /sə sɛʁv/
	imperfect2	me servisse /mə sɛʁ.vis/	te servisses /tə sɛʁ.vis/	se servît /sə sɛʁ.vi/	nous servissions /nu sɛʁ.vi.sjɔ̃/	vous servissiez /vu sɛʁ.vi.sje/	se servissent /sə sɛʁ.vis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sers-toi /sɛʁ.twa/	—	servons-nous /sɛʁ.vɔ̃.nu/	servez-vous /sɛʁ.ve.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

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) sers and (il) sert in the present indicative and imperative, whereas a regular -ir verb would have *servis and *servit (as in the past historic).

Conjugation of s'en servir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'en servir
	compound	s'en être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’en servant /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vɑ̃/
	compound	s'en étant + past participle
past participle		servi /sɛʁ.vi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’en sers /mɑ̃ sɛʁ/	t’en sers /tɑ̃ sɛʁ/	s’en sert /sɑ̃ sɛʁ/	nous en servons /nu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vɔ̃/	vous en servez /vu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.ve/	s’en servent /sɑ̃ sɛʁv/
	imperfect	m’en servais /mɑ̃ sɛʁ.vɛ/	t’en servais /tɑ̃ sɛʁ.vɛ/	s’en servait /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vɛ/	nous en servions /nu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vjɔ̃/	vous en serviez /vu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vje/	s’en servaient /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vɛ/
	past historic2	m’en servis /mɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi/	t’en servis /tɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi/	s’en servit /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi/	nous en servîmes /nu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vim/	vous en servîtes /vu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vit/	s’en servirent /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.viʁ/
	future	m’en servirai /mɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁe/	t’en serviras /tɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁa/	s’en servira /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁa/	nous en servirons /nu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁɔ̃/	vous en servirez /vu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁe/	s’en serviront /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’en servirais /mɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	t’en servirais /tɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	s’en servirait /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/	nous en servirions /nu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁjɔ̃/	vous en serviriez /vu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁje/	s’en serviraient /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'en être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'en être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'en être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'en être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'en être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’en serve /mɑ̃ sɛʁv/	t’en serves /tɑ̃ sɛʁv/	s’en serve /sɑ̃ sɛʁv/	nous en servions /nu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vjɔ̃/	vous en serviez /vu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vje/	s’en servent /sɑ̃ sɛʁv/
	imperfect2	m’en servisse /mɑ̃ sɛʁ.vis/	t’en servisses /tɑ̃ sɛʁ.vis/	s’en servît /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi/	nous en servissions /nu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.sjɔ̃/	vous en servissiez /vu.z‿ɑ̃ sɛʁ.vi.sje/	s’en servissent /sɑ̃ sɛʁ.vis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'en être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'en être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sers-t’en /sɛʁ.tɑ̃/	—	servons-nous-en /sɛʁ.vɔ̃.nu.zɑ̃/	servez-vous-en /sɛʁ.ve.vu.zɑ̃/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'en être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'en être + past participle	simple imperative of s'en être + 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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• on n’est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même
• pour vous servir
• premier arrivé, premier servi
• rien ne sert de courir, il faut partir à point

 

Related terms

• serf
• sergent
• servage
• servant
• serveur
• service
• servile
• serviteur
• servitude

 

Descendants

• → German: servieren
  • Norwegian Bokmål: servere
• Haitian Creole: sèvi

Further reading

• “servir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese servir, from Latin servīre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [seɾˈβiɾ], [sɪɾˈβiɾ]

Verb

servir (first-person singular present sirvo, third-person singular present serve, first-person singular preterite servín, past participle servido)

1. (intransitive) to serve
2. (intransitive) to be useful or fitting

   Synonym: valer

3. (transitive) to serve

Conjugation

    Conjugation of servir (i-e alternation in present singular)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti)	Third-person (el / ela / Vde.)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / Vdes.)
Infinitive
Impersonal	servir
Personal	servir	servires	servir	servirmos	servirdes	serviren
Gerund
	servindo
Past participle
Masculine	servido			servidos
Feminine	servida			servidas
Indicative
Present	sirvo	serves	serve	servimos	servides	serven
Imperfect	servía	servías	servía	serviamos	serviades	servían
Preterite	servín	serviches	serviu	servimos	servistes	serviron
Pluperfect	servira	serviras	servira	serviramos	servirades	serviran
Future	servirei	servirás	servirá	serviremos	serviredes	servirán
Conditional	serviría	servirías	serviría	serviriamos	serviriades	servirían
Subjunctive
Present	sirva	sirvas	sirva	sirvamos	sirvades	sirvan
Imperfect	servise	servises	servise	servísemos	servísedes	servisen
Future	servir	servires	servir	servirmos	servirdes	serviren
Imperative
Affirmative		sirve	sirva	sirvamos	servide	sirvan
Negative (non)		non sirvas	non sirva	non sirvamos	non sirvades	non sirvan

    Reintegrated conjugation of servir (i-e alternation in present singular) (See Appendix:Reintegrationism)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti / tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	servir
Personal	servir	servires	servir	servirmos	servirdes	servirem
Gerund
	servindo
Past participle
Masculine	servido			servidos
Feminine	servida			servidas
Indicative
Present	sirvo	serves	serve	servimos	servides, servis	servem
Imperfect	servia	servias	servia	servíamos	servíades, servíeis, servíais1	serviam
Preterite	servim, servi	serviste, serviche1	serviu	servimos	servistes	servírom, serviram
Pluperfect	servira	serviras	servira	servíramos	servírades, servíreis, servírais1	serviram
Future	servirei	servirás	servirá	serviremos	serviredes, servireis	servirám, servirão
Conditional	serviria	servirias	serviria	serviríamos	serviríades, serviríeis, serviríais1	serviriam
Subjunctive
Present	sirva	sirvas	sirva	sirvamos	sirvades, sirvais	sirvam
Imperfect	servisse	servisses	servisse	servíssemos	servíssedes, servísseis	servissem
Future	servir	servires	servir	servirmos	servirdes	servirem
Imperative
Affirmative		serve	sirva	sirvamos	servide, servi	sirvam
Negative (nom)		nom sirvas	nom sirva	nom sirvamos	nom sirvades, nom sirvais	nom sirvam

¹Less recommended.

References

• Ernesto González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “servir”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “servir”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• “servir” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “servir” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “servir” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /serˈvir/

Verb

servir

1. to serve

Conjugation

    Conjugation of servir

infinitive		servir
participle		present	perfect
		serviente	servite
active		simple	perfect
	present	servi	ha servite
	past	serviva	habeva servite
	future	servira	habera servite
	conditional	servirea	haberea servite
	imperative	servi
passive		simple	perfect
	present	es servite	ha essite servite
	past	esseva servite	habeva essite servite
	future	essera servite	habera essite servite
	conditional	esserea servite	haberea essite servite
	imperative	sia servite

Italian

Verb

servir (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of servire

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French servir, from Latin servīre.

Verb

servir

1. to serve (act as a servant or a vassal)

Descendants

• → English: serve
• French: servir
  • German: servieren
    • Norwegian Bokmål: servere

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan servir, from Latin servīre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səɾˈβi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

servir

1. to serve
2. to be useful

Conjugation

    Conjugation of servir in Lengadocian (Central Occitan)

		simple			compound
infinitive		servir			aver servit
past participle		servit			—
gerund		servissent			avent servit
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ieu	tu	el	nosautres	vosautres	eles
	present	servissi	servisses	servís	servissèm	servissètz	servisson
	imperfect	servissiái	servissiás	servissiá	servissiam	servissiatz	servissián
	preterite	serviguèri	serviguères	serviguèt	serviguèrem	serviguèretz	serviguèron
	future	servirai	serviràs	servirà	servirem	serviretz	serviràn
	conditional	serviriái	serviriás	serviriá	serviriam	serviriatz	servirián
	conditional 2nd form1	serviguèra	serviguèras	serviguèra	servigueram	servigueratz	serviguèran
compound tenses	present perfect	use the present tense of aver plus the past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect tense of aver plus the past participle
	past anterior	use the preterite tense of aver plus the past participle
	future perfect	use the future tense of aver plus the past participle
	conditional perfect	use the conditional tense of aver plus the past participle
subjunctive		que ieu	que tu	que el	que nosautres	que vosautres	que eles
	present	servisca	serviscas	servisca	serviscam	serviscatz	serviscan
	imperfect	serviguèsse	serviguèsses	serviguèsse	serviguèssem	serviguèssetz	serviguèsson
compound tenses	past	use the present subjunctive of aver plus the past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect subjunctive of aver plus the past participle
imperative		—	tu	—	nosautres	vosautres	—
			servís		serviscam	servissetz	1Now chiefly obsolete, still in use in some Limousin and Vivaro-Alpin dialects

Related terms

• servidor

Old French

Etymology

From Latin servīre.

Verb

servir

1. to serve (act as a servant or a vassal)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of servir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		servir			avoir servi
gerund		en servant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		servant
past participle		servi
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	serf	sers	sert	servons	servez	servent
	imperfect	servoie, serveie	servoies, serveies	servoit, serveit	serviiens, serviens	serviiez, serviez	servoient, serveient
	preterite	servi	servis	servi	servimes	servistes	servirent
	future	servirai	serviras	servira	servirons	serviroiz, servireiz, servirez	serviront
	conditional	serviroie, servireie	serviroies, servireies	serviroit, servireit	serviriiens, serviriens	serviriiez, serviriez	serviroient, servireient
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	serve	serves	serve	servons	servez	servent
	imperfect	servisse	servisses	servist	servissons, servissiens	servissoiz, servissez, servissiez	servissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	serf	—	servons	servez	—

Related terms

• aservir
• deservir
• desservir
• messervir
• serf
• serjant
• servise

 

Descendants

• Middle French: servir
  • → English: serve
  • French: servir
    • German: servieren
      • Norwegian Bokmål: servere
• Walloon: siervi

Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin servīre.

Verb

servir

1. to serve (act as a servant or a vassal)

Descendants

• Occitan: servir

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese servir, from Latin servīre.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /seʁˈvi(ʁ)/ [seɦˈvi(h)]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /seʁˈvi(ʁ)/ [seɦˈvi(h)]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /seɾˈvi(ɾ)/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /seʁˈvi(ʁ)/ [seʁˈvi(χ)]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /seɻˈvi(ɻ)/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨɾˈviɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨɾˈviɾ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨɾˈbiɾ/ [sɨɾˈβiɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨɾˈvi.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: ser‧vir

Verb

servir (first-person singular present sirvo, third-person singular present serve, first-person singular preterite servi, past participle servido)

1. (transitive) to serve (to work as a servant for someone)
2. (religion, transitive) to serve (to worship a god)
3. (transitive) to serve (to give out or place down food or drink)
4. (intransitive) to serve (to be part of an armed force) [with em ‘in an organization, especially a military one’]

   Servi dois anos na Legião Estrangeira. ― I served for two years in the Foreign Legion.

5. (intransitive) to suffice; to do (to be good enough for a task)

   Esse martelo é ruim mas serve. ― This hammer is bad but it will do.

6. (intransitive) to be for (to have as its purpose or utility) [with para (+ subject pronoun (optional) with personal infinitive) ‘for someone to do something’]

   Martelos servem para as pessoas baterem pregos. ― Hammers are for people to hit nails with.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of servir (i-e alternation in present singular) (See Appendix:Portuguese verbs)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	servir
Personal	servir	servires	servir	servirmos	servirdes	servirem
Gerund
	servindo
Past participle
Masculine	servido			servidos
Feminine	servida			servidas
Indicative
Present	sirvo	serves	serve	servimos	servis	servem
Imperfect	servia	servias	servia	servíamos	servíeis	serviam
Preterite	servi	serviste	serviu	servimos	servistes	serviram
Pluperfect	servira	serviras	servira	servíramos	servíreis	serviram
Future	servirei	servirás	servirá	serviremos	servireis	servirão
Conditional	serviria	servirias	serviria	serviríamos	serviríeis	serviriam
Subjunctive
Present	sirva	sirvas	sirva	sirvamos	sirvais	sirvam
Imperfect	servisse	servisses	servisse	servíssemos	servísseis	servissem
Future	servir	servires	servir	servirmos	servirdes	servirem
Imperative
Affirmative		serve	sirva	sirvamos	servi	sirvam
Negative (não)		não sirvas	não sirva	não sirvamos	não sirvais	não sirvam

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:servir.

Related terms

• servente
• serviço
• servo

 

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin servīre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seɾˈbiɾ/ [seɾˈβ̞iɾ]
• Rhymes: -iɾ
• Syllabification: ser‧vir

Verb

servir (first-person singular present sirvo, first-person singular preterite serví, past participle servido)

1. (intransitive, transitive) to serve (to be a servant or worker; to render service)

   Es una empresa que sirve a los discapacitados.

   It's a business that serves the disabled.

2. (intransitive, transitive) to serve (to be a servant for; to work for)
3. (intransitive) to be of use, to be good for

   Hace diez años, la traducción automática no servía.

   Ten years ago, automated translation was no good.

   Este cuchillo sirve para cortar el pan.

   This knife is good for cutting bread.

4. (intransitive) to serve (to usefully take the place of something else)

   sirve como recordatorio ― serves as a reminder

5. (intransitive) to serve (to be in military service)
6. (intransitive, transitive) to serve (to set down (food or drink) on the table to be eaten)

   El camarero nos sirvió la comida de otra mesa.

   The waiter served us another table's food.

7. (intransitive, sports) to serve (to lead off with the first delivery over the net in tennis, volleyball, ping pong, badminton, etc.)

   Synonym: sacar

8. (reflexive) to help oneself to (to take freely) [with de ‘something’]

Conjugation

    Conjugation of servir (e-i alternation) (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			servir
gerund			sirviendo
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		servido		servida
		plural		servidos		servidas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	sirvo	sirvestú servísvos	sirve	servimos	servís	sirven
	imperfect	servía	servías	servía	servíamos	servíais	servían
	preterite	serví	serviste	sirvió	servimos	servisteis	sirvieron
	future	serviré	servirás	servirá	serviremos	serviréis	servirán
	conditional	serviría	servirías	serviría	serviríamos	serviríais	servirían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	sirva	sirvastú sirvásvos2	sirva	sirvamos	sirváis	sirvan
	imperfect (ra)	sirviera	sirvieras	sirviera	sirviéramos	sirvierais	sirvieran
	imperfect (se)	sirviese	sirvieses	sirviese	sirviésemos	sirvieseis	sirviesen
	future1	sirviere	sirvieres	sirviere	sirviéremos	sirviereis	sirvieren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		sirvetú servívos	sirva	sirvamos	servid	sirvan
	negative		no sirvas	no sirva	no sirvamos	no sirváis	no sirvan

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of servir (e-i alternation)

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive servir
	dative	servirme	servirte	servirle, servirse	servirnos	serviros	servirles, servirse
	accusative	servirme	servirte	servirlo, servirla, servirse	servirnos	serviros	servirlos, servirlas, servirse
with gerund sirviendo
	dative	sirviéndome	sirviéndote	sirviéndole, sirviéndose	sirviéndonos	sirviéndoos	sirviéndoles, sirviéndose
	accusative	sirviéndome	sirviéndote	sirviéndolo, sirviéndola, sirviéndose	sirviéndonos	sirviéndoos	sirviéndolos, sirviéndolas, sirviéndose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative sirve
	dative	sírveme	sírvete	sírvele	sírvenos	not used	sírveles
	accusative	sírveme	sírvete	sírvelo, sírvela	sírvenos	not used	sírvelos, sírvelas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative serví
	dative	servime	servite	servile	servinos	not used	serviles
	accusative	servime	servite	servilo, servila	servinos	not used	servilos, servilas
with formal second-person singular imperative sirva
	dative	sírvame	not used	sírvale, sírvase	sírvanos	not used	sírvales
	accusative	sírvame	not used	sírvalo, sírvala, sírvase	sírvanos	not used	sírvalos, sírvalas
with first-person plural imperative sirvamos
	dative	not used	sirvámoste	sirvámosle	sirvámonos	sirvámoos	sirvámosles
	accusative	not used	sirvámoste	sirvámoslo, sirvámosla	sirvámonos	sirvámoos	sirvámoslos, sirvámoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative servid
	dative	servidme	not used	servidle	servidnos	servíos	servidles
	accusative	servidme	not used	servidlo, servidla	servidnos	servíos	servidlos, servidlas
with formal second-person plural imperative sirvan
	dative	sírvanme	not used	sírvanle	sírvannos	not used	sírvanles, sírvanse
	accusative	sírvanme	not used	sírvanlo, sírvanla	sírvannos	not used	sírvanlos, sírvanlas, sírvanse

Derived terms

• bien servido
• la venganza es un plato que se sirve frío
• lo comido por lo servido
• servir al rey
• servir concha
• servir coño
• servir de estropajo
• servir la mesa
• servir para demostrar (“to go to show”)

 

Related terms

• sargento
• servible
• servicentro
• servicio
• servidor
• servidumbre
• servil
• siervo
• sirviente

 

Further reading

• “servir”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Venetian

Etymology

From Latin servīre. Compare Italian servire.

Verb

servir

1. (transitive, intransitive) to serve

Conjugation

• Venetian conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of servir (third conjugation)

infinitive	servir
auxiliary verb		aver	gerund		servéndo
past participle		servito, servìo
person	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative	mi	ti	eło / eła	noialtri / noialtre	voialtri / voialtre	łuri / łore
present	serviso	(te) servisi	(el/ła) servise	servimo	servì	(i/łe) servise
imperfect	servìa	(te) servivi	(el/ła) servìa	servìvimo	servivi	(i/łe) servìa
future	servirò	(te) servirè	(el/ła) servirà	servirémo	servirè	(i/łe) servirà
conditional	mi	ti	eło / eła	noialtri / noialtre	voialtri / voialtre	łuri / łore
present	servirìa	(te) servirisi	(el/ła) servirìa	servirìsimo	servirisi	(i/łe) servirìa
subjunctive	che mi	che ti	che eło / eła	che noialtri / noialtre	che voialtri / voialtre	che łuri / łore
present	servisa	(te) servisi	(el/ła) servisa	servimo	servì	(i/łe) servisa
imperfect	servise	(te) servisi	(el/ła) servise	servisimo	servisi	(i/łe) servise
imperative	—	ti	eło / eła	noialtri / noialtre	voialtri / voialtre	łuri / łore
	—	(te) servisi	(el/ła) servisa	servimo	servì	(i/łe) servisa