avouer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French avoer, from Latin advocāre. The modern form is expected as in louer (from locāre). However, the Old French conjugation shows an unexpected vocalism, which may be due either to early levelling or to Latinate influence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.vwe/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

avouer

1. to avow
2. to confess

   s’avouer vaincu ― to admit defeat; to give up

3. to approve

Conjugation

Conjugation of avouer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	avouer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	avouant /a.vwɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		avoué /a.vwe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	avoue /a.vu/	avoues /a.vu/	avoue /a.vu/	avouons /a.vwɔ̃/	avouez /a.vwe/	avouent /a.vu/
	imperfect	avouais /a.vwɛ/	avouais /a.vwɛ/	avouait /a.vwɛ/	avouions /a.vu.jɔ̃/	avouiez /a.vu.je/	avouaient /a.vwɛ/
	past historic2	avouai /a.vwe/	avouas /a.vwa/	avoua /a.vwa/	avouâmes /a.vwam/	avouâtes /a.vwat/	avouèrent /a.vwɛʁ/
	future	avouerai /a.vu.ʁe/	avoueras /a.vu.ʁa/	avouera /a.vu.ʁa/	avouerons /a.vu.ʁɔ̃/	avouerez /a.vu.ʁe/	avoueront /a.vu.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	avouerais /a.vu.ʁɛ/	avouerais /a.vu.ʁɛ/	avouerait /a.vu.ʁɛ/	avouerions /a.vu.ʁjɔ̃/	avoueriez /a.vu.ʁje/	avoueraient /a.vu.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	avoue /a.vu/	avoues /a.vu/	avoue /a.vu/	avouions /a.vu.jɔ̃/	avouiez /a.vu.je/	avouent /a.vu/
	imperfect2	avouasse /a.vwas/	avouasses /a.vwas/	avouât /a.vwa/	avouassions /a.vwa.sjɔ̃/	avouassiez /a.vwa.sje/	avouassent /a.vwas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	avoue /a.vu/	—	avouons /a.vwɔ̃/	avouez /a.vwe/	—
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

• aveu
• avoueur
• faute avouée est à demi pardonnée
• faute avouée est à moitié pardonnée
• inavouable
• inavoué

Related terms

• avocat
• convoquer
• voix

Descendants

• → Basque: aboatu

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• œuvra, vouera