ouvrir

French

Etymology

From Middle French ouvrir, from Old French ovrir, obrir, from Vulgar Latin *operīre, alteration of Classical Latin aperīre, present active infinitive of aperiō (“I open”), perhaps under the influence of cooperīre (“to cover”) (whence couvrir).

• Cognate with Italian aprire, Portuguese abrir, Spanish abrir, Catalan obrir

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u.vʁiʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [uvæɾ], [ɾuvɾɪɾ]
• Rhymes: -iʁ

Verb

ouvrir

1. (transitive) to open
2. (transitive) to begin
3. (reflexive) to open, to begin

   La séquence s'ouvre sur une scène de nuit.

   The sequence opens with a night scene.

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like couvrir and offrir. It is conjugated like a regular -er verb in the present and imperfect indicative, present subjunctive, imperative, and present participle; it is conjugated like a regular -ir verb in the infinitive, future indicative, conditional, past historic, and imperfect subjunctive; and its past participle ouvert is irregular.

Conjugation of ouvrir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ouvrir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ouvrant /u.vʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ouvert /u.vɛʁ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvres /uvʁ/	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvrons /u.vʁɔ̃/	ouvrez /u.vʁe/	ouvrent /uvʁ/
	imperfect	ouvrais /u.vʁɛ/	ouvrais /u.vʁɛ/	ouvrait /u.vʁɛ/	ouvrions /u.vʁi.jɔ̃/	ouvriez /u.vʁi.je/	ouvraient /u.vʁɛ/
	past historic2	ouvris /u.vʁi/	ouvris /u.vʁi/	ouvrit /u.vʁi/	ouvrîmes /u.vʁim/	ouvrîtes /u.vʁit/	ouvrirent /u.vʁiʁ/
	future	ouvrirai /u.vʁi.ʁe/	ouvriras /u.vʁi.ʁa/	ouvrira /u.vʁi.ʁa/	ouvrirons /u.vʁi.ʁɔ̃/	ouvrirez /u.vʁi.ʁe/	ouvriront /u.vʁi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ouvrirais /u.vʁi.ʁɛ/	ouvrirais /u.vʁi.ʁɛ/	ouvrirait /u.vʁi.ʁɛ/	ouvririons /u.vʁi.ʁjɔ̃/	ouvririez /u.vʁi.ʁje/	ouvriraient /u.vʁi.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	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvres /uvʁ/	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvrions /u.vʁi.jɔ̃/	ouvriez /u.vʁi.je/	ouvrent /uvʁ/
	imperfect2	ouvrisse /u.vʁis/	ouvrisses /u.vʁis/	ouvrît /u.vʁi/	ouvrissions /u.vʁi.sjɔ̃/	ouvrissiez /u.vʁi.sje/	ouvrissent /u.vʁis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ouvre /uvʁ/	—	ouvrons /u.vʁɔ̃/	ouvrez /u.vʁe/	—
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, 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).

This verb is conjugated like couvrir and offrir. It is conjugated like a regular -er verb in the present and imperfect indicative, present subjunctive, imperative, and present participle; it is conjugated like a regular -ir verb in the infinitive, future indicative, conditional, past historic, and imperfect subjunctive; and its past participle ouvert is irregular.

Conjugation of s’ouvrir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s’ouvrir
	compound	s’être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’ouvrant /su.vʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		ouvert /u.vɛʁ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’ouvre /muvʁ/	t’ouvres /tuvʁ/	s’ouvre /suvʁ/	nous ouvrons /nu.z‿u.vʁɔ̃/	vous ouvrez /vu.z‿u.vʁe/	s’ouvrent /suvʁ/
	imperfect	m’ouvrais /mu.vʁɛ/	t’ouvrais /tu.vʁɛ/	s’ouvrait /su.vʁɛ/	nous ouvrions /nu.z‿u.vʁi.jɔ̃/	vous ouvriez /vu.z‿u.vʁi.je/	s’ouvraient /su.vʁɛ/
	past historic2	m’ouvris /mu.vʁi/	t’ouvris /tu.vʁi/	s’ouvrit /su.vʁi/	nous ouvrîmes /nu.z‿u.vʁim/	vous ouvrîtes /vu.z‿u.vʁit/	s’ouvrirent /su.vʁiʁ/
	future	m’ouvrirai /mu.vʁi.ʁe/	t’ouvriras /tu.vʁi.ʁa/	s’ouvrira /su.vʁi.ʁa/	nous ouvrirons /nu.z‿u.vʁi.ʁɔ̃/	vous ouvrirez /vu.z‿u.vʁi.ʁe/	s’ouvriront /su.vʁi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’ouvrirais /mu.vʁi.ʁɛ/	t’ouvrirais /tu.vʁi.ʁɛ/	s’ouvrirait /su.vʁi.ʁɛ/	nous ouvririons /nu.z‿u.vʁi.ʁjɔ̃/	vous ouvririez /vu.z‿u.vʁi.ʁje/	s’ouvriraient /su.vʁi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s’être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s’être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s’être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s’être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s’être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’ouvre /muvʁ/	t’ouvres /tuvʁ/	s’ouvre /suvʁ/	nous ouvrions /nu.z‿u.vʁi.jɔ̃/	vous ouvriez /vu.z‿u.vʁi.je/	s’ouvrent /suvʁ/
	imperfect2	m’ouvrisse /mu.vʁis/	t’ouvrisses /tu.vʁis/	s’ouvrît /su.vʁi/	nous ouvrissions /nu.z‿u.vʁi.sjɔ̃/	vous ouvrissiez /vu.z‿u.vʁi.sje/	s’ouvrissent /su.vʁis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s’être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s’être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ouvre-toi /uvʁ.twa/	—	ouvrons-nous /u.vʁɔ̃.nu/	ouvrez-vous /u.vʁe.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s’être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s’être + past participle	simple imperative of s’être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only 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).

Antonyms

• fermer

Derived terms

• ouvrant
• ouvre-boîte
• ouvre-bouteille
• ouvreur
• ouvrir grand
• ouvrir la boîte de Pandore
• ouvrir la marche
• ouvrir la marque
• ouvrir la porte
• ouvrir la voie
• ouvrir le bal
• ouvrir le feu
• ouvrir les vannes
• ouvrir les yeux
• Sésame, ouvre-toi
• toit ouvrant

 

Related terms

• ouvert
• ouverture

Further reading

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

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French ovrir.

Verb

ouvrir

1. to open

Descendants

• French: ouvrir