oser

See also: ôser, öser, and øser

French

Etymology

From Old French oser, from Vulgar Latin *ausō, *ausāre, from Latin ausus, perfect active participle of audeō, from Proto-Italic *awidēō (“to be greedy, want very much”). Compare Occitan ausar, Catalan gosar, Italian osare, Spanish osar, Portuguese ousar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.ze/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

oser

1. to dare

   Je n’ose pas lui dire la vérité.

   I don't dare tell him the truth.

2. (Switzerland) to be allowed to

Conjugation

Conjugation of oser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	oser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	osant /o.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		osé /o.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ose /oz/	oses /oz/	ose /oz/	osons /o.zɔ̃/	osez /o.ze/	osent /oz/
	imperfect	osais /o.zɛ/	osais /o.zɛ/	osait /o.zɛ/	osions /o.zjɔ̃/	osiez /o.zje/	osaient /o.zɛ/
	past historic2	osai /o.ze/	osas /o.za/	osa /o.za/	osâmes /o.zam/	osâtes /o.zat/	osèrent /o.zɛʁ/
	future	oserai /oz.ʁe/	oseras /oz.ʁa/	osera /oz.ʁa/	oserons /oz.ʁɔ̃/	oserez /oz.ʁe/	oseront /oz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	oserais /oz.ʁɛ/	oserais /oz.ʁɛ/	oserait /oz.ʁɛ/	oserions /o.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	oseriez /o.zə.ʁje/	oseraient /oz.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	ose /oz/	oses /oz/	ose /oz/	osions /o.zjɔ̃/	osiez /o.zje/	osent /oz/
	imperfect2	osasse /o.zas/	osasses /o.zas/	osât /o.za/	osassions /o.za.sjɔ̃/	osassiez /o.za.sje/	osassent /o.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ose /oz/	—	osons /o.zɔ̃/	osez /o.ze/	—
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

• audace

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Éros, ores, rose, Rose

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Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *ausō, *ausāre, from Latin ausus, perfect active participle of audeō.

Verb

oser

1. to dare

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ss, *-st are modified to s, st. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		oser			avoir osé
gerund		en osant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		osant
past participle		osé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	os	oses	ose	osons	osez	osent
	imperfect	osoie, oseie, osoe, oseve	osoies, oseies, osoes, oseves	osoit, oseit, osot, oseve	osiiens, osiens	osiiez, osiez	osoient, oseient, osoent, osevent
	preterite	osai	osas	osa	osames	osastes	oserent
	future	oserai	oseras	osera	oserons	oseroiz, osereiz, oserez	oseront
	conditional	oseroie, osereie	oseroies, osereies	oseroit, osereit	oseriiens, oseriens	oseriiez, oseriez	oseroient, osereient
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	os	os	ost	osons	osez	osent
	imperfect	osasse	osasses	osast	osissons, osissiens	osissoiz, osissez, osissiez	osassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	ose	—	osons	osez	—

Descendants

• French: oser