allez

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Interjection

allez

1. Alternative spelling of allee

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e

Verb

allez

1. inflection of aller:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

   Allez vous promener.

   Go for a walk.

   Allez le dire aux oiseaux.

   Go tell the birds.

   De ce que j’évitais d’en parler, n’allez pas penser que je l’ignore.

   What I avoided talking about, don't think I'm ignoring it.

Derived terms

• allez-y !
• comment allez-vous ?

Descendants

• → Alemannic German: alee
• → Dutch: allee

Interjection

allez

1. As an expression of encouragement; there you go, let's go, come on, that's it, attaboy, attagirl

   Allez, on y est presque. ― Come on, we're almost there.

   Bon travail, allez. ― Good work, well done.

   Allez bonne nuit, ma bonne dame. ― That's it, good night, my good lady.

   • 1986, “Il était une fois … une maison des musiciens”, in Il était une fois … une petite grenouille (fiction), Paris: CLE International:

     Allez, Nicolas ! Répète !

     Come on, Nicolas! Do it again!

2. expressing a certain agitation, positive or negative (eg. enthusiasm or excitement, or impatience, annoyance or frustration, etc.), sometimes overlapping with previous sense of encouragement; come on, go on

   Laisse-moi tranquille. Allez vas-y ! ― Leave me alone. Come on, go!

   Allez Les Bleus ! ― Come on, Les Bleus!

   Allez viens, plus perdre de temps. ― Come on, let's not waste more time.

   • 1986, “Il était une fois … une maison des musiciens”, in Il était une fois … une petite grenouille (fiction), Paris: CLE International:

     Nicolas, je voudrais jouer du piano…
     Non, ce n’est pas ton piano !
     Allez, Nicolas, laisse-moi jouer.
     Non, c’est mon piano !

     Nicolas, I’d like to play the piano…
     No, it’s not your piano!
     Come on, Nicolas, let me play.
     No, it’s my piano!

Usage notes

• Interjectional usage of allez has gained significant distance (though perhaps not quite complete independence) from the imperative form of aller in which it originated. One consequence of this development is that, while it retains a certain imperative thrust, the interjection is not necessarily affected by T-V distinction — that is to say, it may be directed toward someone whom the speaker would address with the familiar pronoun tu or the deferential vous. An especially clear demonstration of this phenomenon (arguably the clearest) can be observed in the phrase allez vas-y (“go on, go”) — which appears to be composed of both second-person imperatives (the plural/deferential and familiar singular) of (y) aller, though the first is actually this now-independent interjection. Similar in form, allez viens (“come on then”) — in which the interjection is joined by the familiar imperative of venir (“to come”).
• The corresponding familiar imperative va is also used as an interjection, overlapping with allez in some uses, distinct in others.

Further reading

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