quérir
See also: querir
French
Etymology
From Middle French querir, from Old French querre (with conjugation change), from Latin quaerere, present active infinitive of quaerō (“I seek”). Compare also Walloon cweri. Cognate with Spanish querer.
Pronunciation
Verb
quérir
- (literary or archaic) to seek; used especially after certain verbs
- Il a fait (ou envoyé) quérir son frère. ― He bade his brother come.
- Il est allé quérir le château. ― He went in quest of the castle.
- (archaic) to want
Conjugation
- Many dictionaries give quérir as a defective verb, only appearing as an infinitive. However historically, it has a conjugation.
This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
Conjugation of quérir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | quérir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | quérant /ke.ʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | quis /ki/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | — | — | quiert /kjɛʁ/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect | — | — | quérait /ke.ʁɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| past historic2 | — | — | quit /ki/ |
— | — | — | |
| future | — | — | querra /kɛ.ʁa/ or /ke.ʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
| conditional | — | — | querrait /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.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 | — | — | quière /kjɛʁ/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect2 | — | — | quît /ki/ |
— | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Conjugation of quérir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | quérir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | quérant /ke.ʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | quis /ki/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | quiers /kjɛʁ/ |
quiers /kjɛʁ/ |
quiert /kjɛʁ/ |
quérons /ke.ʁɔ̃/ |
quérez /ke.ʁe/ |
quièrent /kjɛʁ/ |
| imperfect | quérais /ke.ʁɛ/ |
quérais /ke.ʁɛ/ |
quérait /ke.ʁɛ/ |
quérions /ke.ʁjɔ̃/ |
quériez /ke.ʁje/ |
quéraient /ke.ʁɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | quis /ki/ |
quis /ki/ |
quit /ki/ |
quîmes /kim/ |
quîtes /kit/ |
quirent /kiʁ/ | |
| future | querrai /kɛ.ʁe/ or /ke.ʁe/ |
querras /kɛ.ʁa/ or /ke.ʁa/ |
querra /kɛ.ʁa/ or /ke.ʁa/ |
querrons /kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ke.ʁɔ̃/ |
querrez /kɛ.ʁe/ or /ke.ʁe/ |
querront /kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ke.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | querrais /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/ |
querrais /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/ |
querrait /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/ |
querrions /kɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ke.ʁjɔ̃/ |
querriez /kɛ.ʁje/ or /ke.ʁje/ |
querraient /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.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 | quière /kjɛʁ/ |
quières /kjɛʁ/ |
quière /kjɛʁ/ |
quérions /ke.ʁjɔ̃/ |
quériez /ke.ʁje/ |
quièrent /kjɛʁ/ |
| imperfect2 | quisse /kis/ |
quisses /kis/ |
quît /ki/ |
quissions /ki.sjɔ̃/ |
quissiez /ki.sje/ |
quissent /kis/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | quiers /kjɛʁ/ |
— | quérons /ke.ʁɔ̃/ |
quérez /ke.ʁe/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Further reading
- “quérir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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