laisser

French

Etymology

From Middle French laisser, from Old French lesser, lessier, laissier (“to let, let go, leave”), from Latin laxō, laxāre (“to relax, loosen”); possibly partly from or influenced by Old High German lāzan (“to let, let go, leave”) (German lassen), from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to let, leave, leave alone”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, let”). Cognate with Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, leave, rent”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (lētan, “to release, forgive”). Conflated also with Old French laiier (“to leave, abandon, allow”) (compare Old Occitan laihar, laiar, Old Northern Italian lagare), also of Germanic origin, from Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan, “to lay, let lie, leave”), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”). More at let, lay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛ.se/, /le.se/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

laisser

1. (transitive) to leave, to leave behind

   Laissez le pistolet sur la table

   Leave the gun on the table

2. (transitive) to forget, to leave alone
3. (transitive) to leave with, to give
4. (transitive) to let, to allow
5. (reflexive, se laisser) to allow oneself, to let oneself

Conjugation

Conjugation of laisser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	laisser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	laissant /lɛ.sɑ̃/ or /le.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		laissé /lɛ.se/ or /le.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	laisse /lɛs/	laisses /lɛs/	laisse /lɛs/	laissons /lɛ.sɔ̃/ or /le.sɔ̃/	laissez /lɛ.se/ or /le.se/	laissent /lɛs/
	imperfect	laissais /lɛ.sɛ/ or /le.sɛ/	laissais /lɛ.sɛ/ or /le.sɛ/	laissait /lɛ.sɛ/ or /le.sɛ/	laissions /lɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /le.sjɔ̃/	laissiez /lɛ.sje/ or /le.sje/	laissaient /lɛ.sɛ/ or /le.sɛ/
	past historic2	laissai /lɛ.se/ or /le.se/	laissas /lɛ.sa/ or /le.sa/	laissa /lɛ.sa/ or /le.sa/	laissâmes /lɛ.sam/ or /le.sam/	laissâtes /lɛ.sat/ or /le.sat/	laissèrent /lɛ.sɛʁ/ or /le.sɛʁ/
	future	laisserai /lɛ.sʁe/	laisseras /lɛ.sʁa/	laissera /lɛ.sʁa/	laisserons /lɛ.sʁɔ̃/	laisserez /lɛ.sʁe/	laisseront /lɛ.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	laisserais /lɛ.sʁɛ/	laisserais /lɛ.sʁɛ/	laisserait /lɛ.sʁɛ/	laisserions /lɛ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	laisseriez /lɛ.sə.ʁje/	laisseraient /lɛ.sʁɛ/
(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	laisse /lɛs/	laisses /lɛs/	laisse /lɛs/	laissions /lɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /le.sjɔ̃/	laissiez /lɛ.sje/ or /le.sje/	laissent /lɛs/
	imperfect2	laissasse /lɛ.sas/ or /le.sas/	laissasses /lɛ.sas/ or /le.sas/	laissât /lɛ.sa/ or /le.sa/	laissassions /lɛ.sa.sjɔ̃/ or /le.sa.sjɔ̃/	laissassiez /lɛ.sa.sje/ or /le.sa.sje/	laissassent /lɛ.sas/ or /le.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	laisse /lɛs/	—	laissons /lɛ.sɔ̃/ or /le.sɔ̃/	laissez /lɛ.se/ or /le.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 only usable with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• laisser tomber
• laissez faire
• laissez vibrer

Descendants

• → Breton: lezel

Related terms

• lâcher

Further reading

• “laisser” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• liséras, lissera, sérails, sileras

---

Middle French

Alternative forms

• laissier

Etymology

From Old French lesser, lessier, laissier (“to let, let go, leave”), from Latin laxō, laxāre (“to relax, loosen”); partly from or influenced by Old High German lāzan (“to let, let go, leave”) (German lassen), from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to let, leave, leave alone”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, let”).

Verb

laisser

1. to allow; to permit
2. to leave (not take)
3. to leave alone (not interfere)
   • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 74:

     [ie] vous prie que vous me laissiez ceste bataille

     I beg of you to let me go into this battle alone

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of laisser

infinitive	simple	laisser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	laissant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		laissé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	laisse	laisses	laisse	laissons	laissez	laissent
	imperfect	laissois, laissoys	laissois, laissoys	laissoit, laissoyt	laissions, laissyons	laissiez, laissyez	laissoient, laissoyent
	past historic	laissa	laissas	laissa	laissasmes	laissastes	laisserent
	future	laisserai, laisseray	laisseras	laissera	laisserons	laisserez	laisseront
	conditional	laisserois, laisseroys	laisserois, laisseroys	laisseroit, laisseroyt	laisserions, laisseryons	laisseriez, laisseryez	laisseroient, laisseroyent
(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	laisse	laisses	laisse	laissons	laissez	laissent
	imperfect	laissasse	laissasses	laissast	laissassions	laissassiez	laissassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	laisse	—	laissons	laissez	—
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).

Synonyms

• (permit): laire
• (leave alone): laire

Descendants

• French: laisser
  • → Breton: lezel