bâiller

See also: bailler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French baailler, from Old French baaillier, from Early Medieval Latin bataculāre (“to yawn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.je/, /bɑ.je/

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• Homophones: bâillai, bâillé, bâillée, bâillées, bâillés, bâillez (general), baillai, baillé, baillée, baillées, bailler, baillés, baillez (some speakers)

Verb

bâiller

1. to yawn

Conjugation

Conjugation of bâiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	bâiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	bâillant /ba.jɑ̃/ or /bɑ.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		bâillé /ba.je/ or /bɑ.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	bâille /baj/ or /bɑj/	bâilles /baj/ or /bɑj/	bâille /baj/ or /bɑj/	bâillons /ba.jɔ̃/ or /bɑ.jɔ̃/	bâillez /ba.je/ or /bɑ.je/	bâillent /baj/ or /bɑj/
	imperfect	bâillais /ba.jɛ/ or /bɑ.jɛ/	bâillais /ba.jɛ/ or /bɑ.jɛ/	bâillait /ba.jɛ/ or /bɑ.jɛ/	bâillions /baj.jɔ̃/ or /bɑj.jɔ̃/	bâilliez /baj.je/ or /bɑj.je/	bâillaient /ba.jɛ/ or /bɑ.jɛ/
	past historic2	bâillai /ba.je/ or /bɑ.je/	bâillas /ba.ja/ or /bɑ.ja/	bâilla /ba.ja/ or /bɑ.ja/	bâillâmes /ba.jam/ or /bɑ.jam/	bâillâtes /ba.jat/ or /bɑ.jat/	bâillèrent /ba.jɛʁ/ or /bɑ.jɛʁ/
	future	bâillerai /baj.ʁe/ or /bɑj.ʁe/	bâilleras /baj.ʁa/ or /bɑj.ʁa/	bâillera /baj.ʁa/ or /bɑj.ʁa/	bâillerons /baj.ʁɔ̃/ or /bɑj.ʁɔ̃/	bâillerez /baj.ʁe/ or /bɑj.ʁe/	bâilleront /baj.ʁɔ̃/ or /bɑj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	bâillerais /baj.ʁɛ/ or /bɑj.ʁɛ/	bâillerais /baj.ʁɛ/ or /bɑj.ʁɛ/	bâillerait /baj.ʁɛ/ or /bɑj.ʁɛ/	bâillerions /ba.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /bɑ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	bâilleriez /ba.jə.ʁje/ or /bɑ.jə.ʁje/	bâilleraient /baj.ʁɛ/ or /bɑj.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	bâille /baj/ or /bɑj/	bâilles /baj/ or /bɑj/	bâille /baj/ or /bɑj/	bâillions /baj.jɔ̃/ or /bɑj.jɔ̃/	bâilliez /baj.je/ or /bɑj.je/	bâillent /baj/ or /bɑj/
	imperfect2	bâillasse /ba.jas/ or /bɑ.jas/	bâillasses /ba.jas/ or /bɑ.jas/	bâillât /ba.ja/ or /bɑ.ja/	bâillassions /ba.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /bɑ.ja.sjɔ̃/	bâillassiez /ba.ja.sje/ or /bɑ.ja.sje/	bâillassent /ba.jas/ or /bɑ.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	bâille /baj/ or /bɑj/	—	bâillons /ba.jɔ̃/ or /bɑ.jɔ̃/	bâillez /ba.je/ or /bɑ.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

• bâillement
• bâiller comme une carpe
• bâillon

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• braille, braillé
• libéral