avouer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French avoer, from Latin advocāre, possibly an early borrowing or adaptation; cf. the Old French form avouchier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.vwe/

• audio

  (file)

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

Derived terms

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

Related terms

• avocat
• convoquer
• voix

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• œuvra, vouera