Wiktionary

voir

French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French veoir, veir, from earlier vedeir, from Latin vidēre, from Proto-Italic *widēō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-. Unrelated to voie and its derivatives and to voirie or avoir.

See cognates in regional languages in France : Norman veî or veir, Gallo vair, Picard vir, Bourguignon voi, Franco-Provençal vêre, Occitan veire or véser, Corsican vedè.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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voir

  1. to see (visually)
    Je vois ma mère là-bas.
    I see my mother over there.
    On ne voit pas souvent de la neige par ici.
    One doesn't often see snow around here.
    • 1864, Jules Verne, Voyage au centre de la Terre, sourced from [1]:
      Mais non, Axel, nous retrouverions au moins nos propres traces, et je ne vois rien...
      No, Axel, we should at least find our own traces and I see nothing--
  2. to see (to understand)
    Tu vois que tu avais tort ?
    Do you see that you were wrong?
    • 2021, Zaz, Tout là-haut:
      Si on s’en allait tout là-haut, si on prenait de la hauteur, tu verrais que le monde est beau, beau.
      If we went all the way up there, if we got higher, you would see that the world is beautiful, beautiful.
  3. to see (to visit, to go and see)

Conjugation

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Verbs derived from voir form their future and conditional forms using the root verr- instead of the vr- or voir- of other verbs.

Conjugation of voir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple voir
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple voyant
/vwa.jɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle vu
/vy/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present vois
/vwa/ 		vois
/vwa/ 		voit
/vwa/ 		voyons
/vwa.jɔ̃/ 		voyez
/vwa.je/ 		voient
/vwa/
imperfect voyais
/vwa.jɛ/ 		voyais
/vwa.jɛ/ 		voyait
/vwa.jɛ/ 		voyions
/vwaj.jɔ̃/ 		voyiez
/vwaj.je/ 		voyaient
/vwa.jɛ/
past historic2 vis
/vi/ 		vis
/vi/ 		vit
/vi/ 		vîmes
/vim/ 		vîtes
/vit/ 		virent
/viʁ/
future verrai
/vɛ.ʁe/ or /ve.ʁe/ 		verras
/vɛ.ʁa/ or /ve.ʁa/ 		verra
/vɛ.ʁa/ or /ve.ʁa/ 		verrons
/vɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ve.ʁɔ̃/ 		verrez
/vɛ.ʁe/ or /ve.ʁe/ 		verront
/vɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ve.ʁɔ̃/
conditional verrais
/vɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ve.ʁɛ/ 		verrais
/vɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ve.ʁɛ/ 		verrait
/vɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ve.ʁɛ/ 		verrions
/vɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ve.ʁjɔ̃/ 		verriez
/vɛ.ʁje/ or /ve.ʁje/ 		verraient
/vɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ve.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 voie
/vwa/ 		voies
/vwa/ 		voie
/vwa/ 		voyions
/vwaj.jɔ̃/ 		voyiez
/vwaj.je/ 		voient
/vwa/
imperfect2 visse
/vis/ 		visses
/vis/ 		vît
/vi/ 		vissions
/vi.sjɔ̃/ 		vissiez
/vi.sje/ 		vissent
/vis/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — vois
/vwa/ 		— voyons
/vwa.jɔ̃/ 		voyez
/vwa.je/ 		—
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).

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Saint Dominican Creole French: voir
    • Haitian Creole: wè

Adverb

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voir

  1. (Louisiana) please (used to mark the imperative)
    Viens voir ici. ― Come here please.

Further reading

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Haitian Creole

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Etymology

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From French voir (“to see”). Compare Louisiana Creole oua.

Verb

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voir

  1. (Saint-Domingue) to see
    Mo voir ly ahier. ― I saw him yesterday.

Descendants

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  • Haitian Creole: wè

References

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  • S.J Ducoeurjoly, Manuel des habitans de Saint-Domingue, contenant un précis de l'histoire de cette île

Middle English

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Noun

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voir

  1. Alternative form of veir

Old French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin vērus.

Adjective

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voir m (oblique and nominative feminine singular voire)

  1. true
  2. real
  3. true; genuine
    • c. 1150, Thomas d'Angleterre, Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, page 176, line 2178:
      E cele, qui est veire amie
      And she, who is a true friend

Declension

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Declension of voir
Number Case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular Subject voirs voire voir
Oblique voir voire voir
Plural Subject voir voires voir
Oblique voirs voires voir

Synonyms

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Descendants

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Noun

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voir oblique singular, m (oblique plural voirs, nominative singular voirs, nominative plural voir)

  1. the truth

See also

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References

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