concevoir

French

Etymology

From Old French concevoir, from Vulgar Latin *concipēre, from Latin concipere, present active infinitive of concipiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sə.vwaʁ/

• audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

concevoir

1. to conceive (an idea)
2. to conceive (a baby)
3. to conceive (to understand, to comprehend)
4. to design

Conjugation

Conjugation of concevoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	concevoir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	concevant /kɔ̃s.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		conçu /kɔ̃.sy/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	conçois /kɔ̃.swa/	conçois /kɔ̃.swa/	conçoit /kɔ̃.swa/	concevons /kɔ̃s.vɔ̃/	concevez /kɔ̃s.ve/	conçoivent /kɔ̃.swav/
	imperfect	concevais /kɔ̃s.vɛ/	concevais /kɔ̃s.vɛ/	concevait /kɔ̃s.vɛ/	concevions /kɔ̃.sə.vjɔ̃/	conceviez /kɔ̃.sə.vje/	concevaient /kɔ̃s.vɛ/
	past historic2	conçus /kɔ̃.sy/	conçus /kɔ̃.sy/	conçut /kɔ̃.sy/	conçûmes /kɔ̃.sym/	conçûtes /kɔ̃.syt/	conçurent /kɔ̃.syʁ/
	future	concevrai /kɔ̃.sə.vʁe/	concevras /kɔ̃.sə.vʁa/	concevra /kɔ̃.sə.vʁa/	concevrons /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɔ̃/	concevrez /kɔ̃.sə.vʁe/	concevront /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	concevrais /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɛ/	concevrais /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɛ/	concevrait /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɛ/	concevrions /kɔ̃.sə.vʁi.jɔ̃/	concevriez /kɔ̃.sə.vʁi.je/	concevraient /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɛ/
(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	conçoive /kɔ̃.swav/	conçoives /kɔ̃.swav/	conçoive /kɔ̃.swav/	concevions /kɔ̃.sə.vjɔ̃/	conceviez /kɔ̃.sə.vje/	conçoivent /kɔ̃.swav/
	imperfect2	conçusse /kɔ̃.sys/	conçusses /kɔ̃.sys/	conçût /kɔ̃.sy/	conçussions /kɔ̃.sy.sjɔ̃/	conçussiez /kɔ̃.sy.sje/	conçussent /kɔ̃.sys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	conçois /kɔ̃.swa/	—	concevons /kɔ̃s.vɔ̃/	concevez /kɔ̃s.ve/	—
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).

Further reading

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

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Old French

Alternative forms

• conceivre
• conçoivre

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *concipēre, variant form of Classical Latin concipere, present active infinitive of concipiō.

Verb

concevoir

1. to conceive (an idea)
2. to conceive (a baby)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem conçoiv distinct from the unstressed stem concev, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of concevoir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		concevoir			avoir conceü
gerund		en concevant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		concevant
past participle		conceü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	conçoif, conçoi	conçois	conçoit	concevons	concevez	conçoivent
	imperfect	concevoie, conceveie	concevoies, conceveies	concevoit, conceveit	conceviiens, conceviens	conceviiez, conceviez	concevoient, conceveient
	preterite	conçui	conceüs	conçut	conceümes	conceüstes	conçurent
	future	concevrai	concevras	concevra	concevrons	concevroiz, concevreiz, concevrez	concevront
	conditional	concevroie, concevreie	concevroies, concevreies	concevroit, concevreit	concevriiens, concevriens	concevriiez, concevriez	concevroient, concevreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	conçoive	conçoives	conçoive	concevons	concevez	conçoivent
	imperfect	conceüsse	conceüsses	conceüst	conceüssons, conceüssiens	conceüssoiz, conceüssez, conceüssiez	conceüssent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	conçoif	—	concevons	concevez	—

Descendants

• English: conceive (borrowing)
• French: concevoir

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (concevoir, supplement)
• conceivre on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub