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
Verb
laisser
- (transitive) to leave, to leave behind
- Laissez le pistolet sur la table
- Leave the gun on the table
- Laissez le pistolet sur la table
- (transitive) to forget, to leave alone
- (transitive) to leave with, to give
- (transitive) to let, to allow
- (reflexive, se laisser) to allow oneself, to let oneself
Conjugation
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, on | 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/ or /le.sʁe/ |
laisseras /lɛ.sʁa/ or /le.sʁa/ |
laissera /lɛ.sʁa/ or /le.sʁa/ |
laisserons /lɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /le.sʁɔ̃/ |
laisserez /lɛ.sʁe/ or /le.sʁe/ |
laisseront /lɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /le.sʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | laisserais /lɛ.sʁɛ/ or /le.sʁɛ/ |
laisserais /lɛ.sʁɛ/ or /le.sʁɛ/ |
laisserait /lɛ.sʁɛ/ or /le.sʁɛ/ |
laisserions /lɛ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /le.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
laisseriez /lɛ.sə.ʁje/ or /le.sə.ʁje/ |
laisseraient /lɛ.sʁɛ/ or /le.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 | – | – | – | ||||
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 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Breton: lezel
Related terms
Further reading
- “laisser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Middle French
Alternative forms
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
- to allow; to permit
- to leave (not take)
- 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.
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 | – | – | – | ||||
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
Descendants
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms derived from Old High German
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French verbs
- French transitive verbs
- French reflexive verbs
- French verbs with conjugation -er
- French first group verbs
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French terms inherited from Latin
- Middle French terms derived from Latin
- Middle French terms derived from Old High German
- Middle French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French verbs
- Middle French terms with quotations
- Middle French first group verbs