plaire

French

Etymology

Either a doublet of plaisir, from Old French, from Latin placēre or derived from plaît, from plaisir.

Pronunciation

• audio

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• IPA^(key): /plɛʁ/

Verb

plaire

1. (intransitive) (followed by à or preceded by an indirect object) to please (usually translated into English as like with exchange of the subject and object)

   Cet homme me plaît ― I fancy that man

   (lit., “That man pleases me”)

   Cette robe me plaît ― I like this dress

2. (reflexive) to enjoy (oneself)

   Je me suis plu à Paris. ― I liked it in Paris.

Related terms

• plaisance
• plaisir
• s’il te plaît
• s’il vous plaît

Conjugation

plaire and its derived verbs conjugate like taire, except that the third person singular of the present indicative may take a circumflex on the ‘i’.

  Conjugation of plaire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		plaire			avoir plu
gerund		en plaisant			en ayant plu
present participle		plaisant /plɛ.zɑ̃/
past participle		plu /ply/
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	plais /plɛ/	plais /plɛ/	plaît or plait /plɛ/	plaisons /plɛ.zɔ̃/	plaisez /plɛ.ze/	plaisent /plɛz/
	imperfect	plaisais /plɛ.zɛ/	plaisais /plɛ.zɛ/	plaisait /plɛ.zɛ/	plaisions /plɛ.zjɔ̃/	plaisiez /plɛ.zje/	plaisaient /plɛ.zɛ/
	past historic1	plus /ply/	plus /ply/	plut /ply/	plûmes /plym/	plûtes /plyt/	plurent /plyʁ/
	future	plairai /plɛ.ʁe/	plairas /plɛ.ʁa/	plaira /plɛ.ʁa/	plairons /plɛ.ʁɔ̃/	plairez /plɛ.ʁe/	plairont /plɛ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	plairais /plɛ.ʁɛ/	plairais /plɛ.ʁɛ/	plairait /plɛ.ʁɛ/	plairions /plɛ.ʁjɔ̃/	plairiez /plɛ.ʁje/	plairaient /plɛ.ʁɛ/
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	plaise /plɛz/	plaises /plɛz/	plaise /plɛz/	plaisions /plɛ.zjɔ̃/	plaisiez /plɛ.zje/	plaisent /plɛz/
	imperfect1	plusse /plys/	plusses /plys/	plût /ply/	plussions /ply.sjɔ̃/	plussiez /ply.sje/	plussent /plys/
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	plais /plɛ/	—	plaisons /plɛ.zɔ̃/	plaisez /plɛ.ze/	—
1literary tenses

Anagrams

• palier, pareil, pilera, pliera, replia

Further reading

• “plaire” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Middle French

Verb

plaire

1. to please

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Old French

Verb

plaire

1. Alternative infinitive of plaisir.

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		plaire			avoir pleü
gerund		en plaisant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		plaisant
past participle		pleü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	plaz, plais	plais	plaist	plaisons	plaisiez	plaisent
	imperfect	plaisoie, plaiseie	plaisoies, plaiseies	plaisoit, plaiseit	plaisiiens, plaisiens	plaisiiez, plaisiez	plaisoient, plaiseient
	preterite	ploi	pleüs	plot	pleümes	pleüstes	plorent
	future	plairai	plairas	plaira	plairons	plairoiz, plaireiz, plairez	plairont
	conditional	plairoie, plaireie	plairoies, plaireies	plairoit, plaireit	plairiiens, plairiens	plairiiez, plairiez	plairoient, plaireient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior	Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	place, plaise	places, plaises	place, plaise	placiens, plaçons, plaisiens, plaisons	placiez, plaisiez	placent, plaisent
	imperfect	pleüsse	pleüsses	pleüst	pleüssons, pleüssiens	pleüssoiz, pleüssez, pleüssiez	pleüssent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	plais	—	plaisons	plaisiez	—