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Definition 2024

savoir

savoir

French

Alternative forms

Verb

savoir

  1. to know (something)
    Il est difficile de savoir si elle ment.
    It's difficult to know if she's lying
    Difficile à savoir (expression; confer Difficile à dire, voir, faire)
  2. to know how (to do something)
    Savez-vous nager?
    Do you know how to swim?
  3. to be able to, to be apt to (especially in the negative conditional)
    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 a cessé la résistance dans la bande de Gaza», a poursuivi M. Abbas.» – Le Devoir, 3 September 2010

Conjugation

Usage notes

  • To translate "know" in the sense "to be acquainted with", the verb connaître is used.

Synonyms

Related terms

Noun

savoir m ‎(plural savoirs)

  1. knowledge

Anagrams

Old French

Alternative forms

  • saveir (early Old French or Anglo-Norman)
  • savier (La Vie de Saint Léger, circa 980)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō ‎(“I taste”), later "I know".

Verb

savoir

  1. to know
  2. 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.

    Conjugation of savoir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
simple compound
infinitive savoir avoir seü
gerund en savant, sachant Use the gerund of avoir followed by the 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 Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
past anterior Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle
future perfect Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
conditional perfect Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the 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 Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative – tu – nos vos –
— sache — sachiens, sachons sachiez —

Noun

savoir m ‎(oblique plural savoirs, nominative singular savoirs, nominative plural savoir)

  1. knowledge
  2. wisdom

Descendants

Etymology

From Old French savoir, saveir, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre ‎(“to taste”) (and "to know" in Late Latin, by influence of the adjective sapiēns ‎(“wise”)), present active infinitive of sapiō. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p- ‎(“to try, to research”). The verb was for a long time spelled sçavoir from Middle French until the 18th century, by false regression to Classical Latin scīre "to know".

The forms of the verb with -ch- are a regular reflex of Latin -pi- (/-pj-/). Compare seiche, approcher, hache.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /savwaʁ/
  • Rhymes: -waʁ

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