ouïr

See also: ouir

French

Etymology

From Middle French ouyr, ouïr, from Old French oir, from Latin audiō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-is-d-, a compound of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewis (“clearly, manifestly”) (from the root *h₂ew- (“to see, perceive”)) and *dʰh₁-ye/o- (“to render”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wiʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -wiʁ

Verb

ouïr

1. (archaic) to hear

   Synonym: entendre

2. (archaic) to listen

   Synonym: écouter

Conjugation

The forms beginning with oi-, oy-, or orr- are archaic.

Conjugation of ouïr (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ouïr
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ouïssant or oyant /wi.sɑ̃/ or /ɔ.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ouï /wi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ouïs or ois /wi/ or /wa/	ouïs or ois /wi/ or /wa/	ouït or oit /wi/ or /wa/	ouïssons or oyons /wi.sɔ̃/ or /ɔ.jɔ̃/	ouïssez or oyez /wi.se/ or /ɔ.je/	ouïssent or oient /wis/ or /wa/
	imperfect	ouïssais or oyais /wi.sɛ/ or /ɔ.jɛ/	ouïssais or oyais /wi.sɛ/ or /ɔ.jɛ/	ouïssait or oyait /wi.sɛ/ or /ɔ.jɛ/	ouïssions or oyions /wi.sjɔ̃/ or /ɔj.jɔ̃/	ouïssiez or oyiez /wi.sje/ or /ɔj.je/	ouïssaient or oyaient /wi.sɛ/ or /ɔ.jɛ/
	past historic2	ouïs /wi/	ouïs /wi/	ouït /wi/	ouïmes /wim/	ouïtes /wit/	ouïrent /wiʁ/
	future	ouïrai or oirai or orrai /wi.ʁe/ or /wa.ʁe/ or /ɔ.ʁe/	ouïras or oiras or orras /wi.ʁa/ or /wa.ʁa/ or /ɔ.ʁa/	ouïra or oira or orra /wi.ʁa/ or /wa.ʁa/ or /ɔ.ʁa/	ouïrons or oirons or orrons /wi.ʁɔ̃/ or /wa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɔ.ʁɔ̃/	ouïrez or oirez or orrez /wi.ʁe/ or /wa.ʁe/ or /ɔ.ʁe/	ouïront or oiront or orront /wi.ʁɔ̃/ or /wa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɔ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ouïrais or oirais or orrais /wi.ʁɛ/ or /wa.ʁɛ/ or /ɔ.ʁɛ/	ouïrais or oirais or orrais /wi.ʁɛ/ or /wa.ʁɛ/ or /ɔ.ʁɛ/	ouïrait or oirait or orrait /wi.ʁɛ/ or /wa.ʁɛ/ or /ɔ.ʁɛ/	ouïrions or oirions or orrions /wi.ʁjɔ̃/ or /wa.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɔ.ʁjɔ̃/	ouïriez or oiriez or orriez /wi.ʁje/ or /wa.ʁje/ or /ɔ.ʁje/	ouïraient or oiraient or orraient /wi.ʁɛ/ or /wa.ʁɛ/ or /ɔ.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	ouïsse or oie /wis/ or /wa/	ouïsses or oies /wis/ or /wa/	ouïsse or oie /wis/ or /wa/	ouïssions or oyions /wi.sjɔ̃/ or /ɔj.jɔ̃/	ouïssiez or oyiez /wi.sje/ or /ɔj.je/	ouïssent or oient /wis/ or /wa/
	imperfect2	ouïsse /wis/	ouïsses /wis/	ouït /wi/	ouïssions /wi.sjɔ̃/	ouïssiez /wi.sje/	ouïssent /wis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ouïs or ois /wi/ or /wa/	—	ouïssons or oyons /wi.sɔ̃/ or /ɔ.jɔ̃/	ouïssez or oyez /wi.se/ or /ɔ.je/	—
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).

Pronunciation notes

Knowing that the letter y is historically a double i in French, we should pronounce the forms in oy [wa] and not [ɔj]. The pronunciation in [ɔj] is technically archaic; it was pronounced this way in Old French and perhaps in Middle French. Pronounce like this:

• Oyant [wa.jɑ̃]
• Oyez ! [wa.je]

Related terms

• ouï-dire
• ouïe
• inouï

Further reading

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