ordonner

French

Etymology

From Middle French ordonner, from Old French ordiner, borrowed from Latin ordinare, present active infinitive of ordino. Spelling influenced by donner (“give”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁ.dɔ.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ordonner

1. to arrange, to organise, sort out (put in order)

   ordonner sa vie - to sort out one's life

2. to prescribe (e.g. medicine)
3. to prescribe, to order (give an order)
4. (religion) to ordain

Conjugation

Conjugation of ordonner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ordonner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ordonnant /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ordonné /ɔʁ.dɔ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ordonne /ɔʁ.dɔn/	ordonnes /ɔʁ.dɔn/	ordonne /ɔʁ.dɔn/	ordonnons /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɔ̃/	ordonnez /ɔʁ.dɔ.ne/	ordonnent /ɔʁ.dɔn/
	imperfect	ordonnais /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɛ/	ordonnais /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɛ/	ordonnait /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɛ/	ordonnions /ɔʁ.dɔ.njɔ̃/	ordonniez /ɔʁ.dɔ.nje/	ordonnaient /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɛ/
	past historic2	ordonnai /ɔʁ.dɔ.ne/	ordonnas /ɔʁ.dɔ.na/	ordonna /ɔʁ.dɔ.na/	ordonnâmes /ɔʁ.dɔ.nam/	ordonnâtes /ɔʁ.dɔ.nat/	ordonnèrent /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɛʁ/
	future	ordonnerai /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁe/	ordonneras /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁa/	ordonnera /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁa/	ordonnerons /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁɔ̃/	ordonnerez /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁe/	ordonneront /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ordonnerais /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁɛ/	ordonnerais /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁɛ/	ordonnerait /ɔʁ.dɔn.ʁɛ/	ordonnerions /ɔʁ.dɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	ordonneriez /ɔʁ.dɔ.nə.ʁje/	ordonneraient /ɔʁ.dɔn.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	ordonne /ɔʁ.dɔn/	ordonnes /ɔʁ.dɔn/	ordonne /ɔʁ.dɔn/	ordonnions /ɔʁ.dɔ.njɔ̃/	ordonniez /ɔʁ.dɔ.nje/	ordonnent /ɔʁ.dɔn/
	imperfect2	ordonnasse /ɔʁ.dɔ.nas/	ordonnasses /ɔʁ.dɔ.nas/	ordonnât /ɔʁ.dɔ.na/	ordonnassions /ɔʁ.dɔ.na.sjɔ̃/	ordonnassiez /ɔʁ.dɔ.na.sje/	ordonnassent /ɔʁ.dɔ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ordonne /ɔʁ.dɔn/	—	ordonnons /ɔʁ.dɔ.nɔ̃/	ordonnez /ɔʁ.dɔ.ne/	—
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).

Related terms

• ordonnateur
• ordre

Further reading

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

---

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French ordiner, and influenced by donner.

Verb

ordonner

1. to command; to order; to decree

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of ordonner

infinitive	simple	ordonner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	ordonnant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		ordonné
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ordonne	ordonnes	ordonne	ordonnons	ordonnez	ordonnent
	imperfect	ordonnois, ordonnoys	ordonnois, ordonnoys	ordonnoit, ordonnoyt	ordonnions, ordonnyons	ordonniez, ordonnyez	ordonnoient, ordonnoyent
	past historic	ordonna	ordonnas	ordonna	ordonnasmes	ordonnastes	ordonnerent
	future	ordonnerai, ordonneray	ordonneras	ordonnera	ordonnerons	ordonnerez	ordonneront
	conditional	ordonnerois, ordonneroys	ordonnerois, ordonneroys	ordonneroit, ordonneroyt	ordonnerions, ordonneryons	ordonneriez, ordonneryez	ordonneroient, ordonneroyent
(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	ordonne	ordonnes	ordonne	ordonnons	ordonnez	ordonnent
	imperfect	ordonnasse	ordonnasses	ordonnast	ordonnassions	ordonnassiez	ordonnassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ordonne	—	ordonnons	ordonnez	—
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).

Descendants

• French: ordonner

---

Norman

Etymology

From Old French ordiner, borrowed from Latin ōrdinō, ōrdināre (“arrange, put in order; rule, govern; ordain, appoint to office”), from ōrdō (“methodical series, arrangement, or order; regular line, row, or series”) and influenced by donner.

Verb

ordonner

1. (Jersey) to order