choisir

See also: chòisir and chóisir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French choisir, from Old French choisir, coisir (“to differentiate, see distinctly”), from Frankish *kauʀijan (“to choose”) or Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan), both from Proto-Germanic *kauzijaną, from Proto-Germanic *keusaną (“to choose, taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to choose, taste”).

Cognate with Franco-Provençal chouêsir (“to choose”), Germanic cognates include Old Frisian kēra (“to elect”). Related also to Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to choose, examine”), Old High German kiosan (“to choose”), Old English ċēosan (“to choose”), Old Norse kjósa (“to choose”). More at choose.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃwa.ziʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: choi‧sir

Verb

choisir

1. to choose

   Je n’ai pas eu le temps de choisir.

   I didn't have time to choose.

2. (obsolete) to perceive, distinguish

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, nourrir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of choisir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	choisir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	choisissant /ʃwa.zi.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		choisi /ʃwa.zi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	choisis /ʃwa.zi/	choisis /ʃwa.zi/	choisit /ʃwa.zi/	choisissons /ʃwa.zi.sɔ̃/	choisissez /ʃwa.zi.se/	choisissent /ʃwa.zis/
	imperfect	choisissais /ʃwa.zi.sɛ/	choisissais /ʃwa.zi.sɛ/	choisissait /ʃwa.zi.sɛ/	choisissions /ʃwa.zi.sjɔ̃/	choisissiez /ʃwa.zi.sje/	choisissaient /ʃwa.zi.sɛ/
	past historic2	choisis /ʃwa.zi/	choisis /ʃwa.zi/	choisit /ʃwa.zi/	choisîmes /ʃwa.zim/	choisîtes /ʃwa.zit/	choisirent /ʃwa.ziʁ/
	future	choisirai /ʃwa.zi.ʁe/	choisiras /ʃwa.zi.ʁa/	choisira /ʃwa.zi.ʁa/	choisirons /ʃwa.zi.ʁɔ̃/	choisirez /ʃwa.zi.ʁe/	choisiront /ʃwa.zi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	choisirais /ʃwa.zi.ʁɛ/	choisirais /ʃwa.zi.ʁɛ/	choisirait /ʃwa.zi.ʁɛ/	choisirions /ʃwa.zi.ʁjɔ̃/	choisiriez /ʃwa.zi.ʁje/	choisiraient /ʃwa.zi.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	choisisse /ʃwa.zis/	choisisses /ʃwa.zis/	choisisse /ʃwa.zis/	choisissions /ʃwa.zi.sjɔ̃/	choisissiez /ʃwa.zi.sje/	choisissent /ʃwa.zis/
	imperfect2	choisisse /ʃwa.zis/	choisisses /ʃwa.zis/	choisît /ʃwa.zi/	choisissions /ʃwa.zi.sjɔ̃/	choisissiez /ʃwa.zi.sje/	choisissent /ʃwa.zis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	choisis /ʃwa.zi/	—	choisissons /ʃwa.zi.sɔ̃/	choisissez /ʃwa.zi.se/	—
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

• de deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre
• entre deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre

Related terms

• choix

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French choisir, coisir (“to differentiate, see distinctly”), Frankish *kauʀijan (“to choose”) or Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan), both from Proto-Germanic *kauzijaną (“to choose, taste, test”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to choose, taste”).

Verb

choisir

1. to choose

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of choisir

infinitive	simple	choisir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	choisissant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		choisi
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	choisis	choisis	choisit	choisissons	choisissez	choisissent
	imperfect	choisissois, choisissoys	choisissois, choisissoys	choisissoit, choisissoyt	choisissions	choisissiez	choisissoient, choisissoyent
	past historic	choisis	choisis	choisit	choisismes	choisistes	choisirent
	future	choisirai, choisiray	choisiras	choisira	choisirons	choisirez	choisiront
	conditional	choisirois, choisiroys	choisirois, choisiroys	choisiroit, choisiroyt	choisirions	choisiriez	choisiroient, choisiroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	choisisse	choisisses	choisisse	choisissions	choisissiez	choisissent
	imperfect	choisisse	choisisses	choisist	choisissions	choisissiez	choisissent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	choisis	—	choisissons	choisissez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).