percevoir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French percevoir, perceveir, from Vulgar Latin *percipēre, variant form of Classical Latin percipĕre (“to seize, to observe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.sə.vwaʁ/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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• Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

percevoir

1. to perceive, to make out
2. to perceive (understand)
3. to collect (e.g. taxes, transit fares)

Conjugation

Conjugation of percevoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	percevoir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	percevant /pɛʁ.sə.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		perçu /pɛʁ.sy/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	perçois /pɛʁ.swa/	perçois /pɛʁ.swa/	perçoit /pɛʁ.swa/	percevons /pɛʁ.sə.vɔ̃/	percevez /pɛʁ.sə.ve/	perçoivent /pɛʁ.swav/
	imperfect	percevais /pɛʁ.sə.vɛ/	percevais /pɛʁ.sə.vɛ/	percevait /pɛʁ.sə.vɛ/	percevions /pɛʁ.sə.vjɔ̃/	perceviez /pɛʁ.sə.vje/	percevaient /pɛʁ.sə.vɛ/
	past historic2	perçus /pɛʁ.sy/	perçus /pɛʁ.sy/	perçut /pɛʁ.sy/	perçûmes /pɛʁ.sym/	perçûtes /pɛʁ.syt/	perçurent /pɛʁ.syʁ/
	future	percevrai /pɛʁ.sə.vʁe/	percevras /pɛʁ.sə.vʁa/	percevra /pɛʁ.sə.vʁa/	percevrons /pɛʁ.sə.vʁɔ̃/	percevrez /pɛʁ.sə.vʁe/	percevront /pɛʁ.sə.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	percevrais /pɛʁ.sə.vʁɛ/	percevrais /pɛʁ.sə.vʁɛ/	percevrait /pɛʁ.sə.vʁɛ/	percevrions /pɛʁ.sə.vʁi.jɔ̃/	percevriez /pɛʁ.sə.vʁi.je/	percevraient /pɛʁ.sə.vʁɛ/
(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	perçoive /pɛʁ.swav/	perçoives /pɛʁ.swav/	perçoive /pɛʁ.swav/	percevions /pɛʁ.sə.vjɔ̃/	perceviez /pɛʁ.sə.vje/	perçoivent /pɛʁ.swav/
	imperfect2	perçusse /pɛʁ.sys/	perçusses /pɛʁ.sys/	perçût /pɛʁ.sy/	perçussions /pɛʁ.sy.sjɔ̃/	perçussiez /pɛʁ.sy.sje/	perçussent /pɛʁ.sys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	perçois /pɛʁ.swa/	—	percevons /pɛʁ.sə.vɔ̃/	percevez /pɛʁ.sə.ve/	—
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).

Derived terms

• apercevoir

Related terms

• concevoir
• recevoir
• perception
• perceptible

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• perceivre
• perçoivre
• perceveir

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *percipēre, variant form of Classical Latin percipiō, percipĕre (“seize, observe”).

Verb

percevoir

1. to notice; to become aware (of)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem perçoiv distinct from the unstressed stem percev, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		percevoir			avoir perceü
gerund		en percevant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		percevant
past participle		perceü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	perçoif, perçoi	perçois	perçoit	percevons	percevez	perçoivent
	imperfect	percevoie, perceveie	percevoies, perceveies	percevoit, perceveit	perceviiens, perceviens	perceviiez, perceviez	percevoient, perceveient
	preterite	perçui	perceüs	perçut	perceümes	perceüstes	perçurent
	future	percevrai	percevras	percevra	percevrons	percevroiz, percevreiz, percevrez	percevront
	conditional	percevroie, percevreie	percevroies, percevreies	percevroit, percevreit	percevriiens, percevriens	percevriiez, percevriez	percevroient, percevreient
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	perçoive	perçoives	perçoive	percevons	percevez	perçoivent
	imperfect	perceüsse	perceüsses	perceüst	perceüssons, perceüssiens	perceüssoiz, perceüssez, perceüssiez	perceüssent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	perçoif	—	percevons	percevez	—

Related terms

• apercevoir

Descendants

• French: percevoir
• → Middle English: perceyven (through Anglo-Norman perceivre)
  • English: perceive
  • Middle Scots: persave
    • Scots: perceive