sauver

See also: saûver

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French saulver, from Old French sauver, salver, from Gallo-Romance salvar, from Late Latin salvāre (“to save”), from Latin salvus.

In the sense specific to North America, a semantic loan from English save.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /so.ve/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

sauver

1. to save, rescue; to protect
2. (computing) to save

   Synonym: sauvegarder

3. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to escape, run away
4. (Quebec, Louisiana) to save (conserve, prevent the wasting of)

   Synonyms: économiser, préserver

   Ça réduit le gaspillage et sauve de l’argent. ― It reduces waste and saves money.

Conjugation

Conjugation of sauver (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	sauver
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	sauvant /so.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		sauvé /so.ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sauve /sov/	sauves /sov/	sauve /sov/	sauvons /so.vɔ̃/	sauvez /so.ve/	sauvent /sov/
	imperfect	sauvais /so.vɛ/	sauvais /so.vɛ/	sauvait /so.vɛ/	sauvions /so.vjɔ̃/	sauviez /so.vje/	sauvaient /so.vɛ/
	past historic2	sauvai /so.ve/	sauvas /so.va/	sauva /so.va/	sauvâmes /so.vam/	sauvâtes /so.vat/	sauvèrent /so.vɛʁ/
	future	sauverai /so.vʁe/	sauveras /so.vʁa/	sauvera /so.vʁa/	sauverons /so.vʁɔ̃/	sauverez /so.vʁe/	sauveront /so.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	sauverais /so.vʁɛ/	sauverais /so.vʁɛ/	sauverait /so.vʁɛ/	sauverions /so.və.ʁjɔ̃/	sauveriez /so.və.ʁje/	sauveraient /so.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	sauve /sov/	sauves /sov/	sauve /sov/	sauvions /so.vjɔ̃/	sauviez /so.vje/	sauvent /sov/
	imperfect2	sauvasse /so.vas/	sauvasses /so.vas/	sauvât /so.va/	sauvassions /so.va.sjɔ̃/	sauvassiez /so.va.sje/	sauvassent /so.vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sauve /sov/	—	sauvons /so.vɔ̃/	sauvez /so.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

• sauvable
• sauvé par la cloche
• sauvé par le gong
• sauve qui peut
• sauvegarder
• sauver la face
• sauver la mise
• sauver les apparences
• sauver les meubles
• sauver l’honneur
• sauver sa peau
• sauvetage
• sauveteur
• sauveur

 

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• saveur

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• sauwer

Etymology

From Old High German sūbar, from Latin sobrius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsaʊ̯vɐ/

Adjective

sauver (comparative sauvrer, superlative sauvrest)

1. clean

   Sin dein Henn sauver?

   Are your hands clean?

Declension

Declension of sauver
		masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
Weak inflection	nominative	sauver	sauver	sauver	sauvre
	accusative	sauvre	sauver	sauver	sauvre
	dative	sauvre	sauvre	sauvre	sauvre
Strong inflection	nominative	sauvrer	sauvre	sauvres	sauvre
	accusative	sauvre	sauvre	sauvres	sauvre
	dative	sauvrem	sauvrer	sauvrem	sauvre
Note: The actual adjective endings used by everyday speakers are quite irregular and vary from one to another. The above relationship is proposed based on the declension of existing adjectives in standard German and other varieties and adapted to the endings expected in a regular evolution of Rhenish and Palatine dialects.

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Middle English

Noun

sauver

1. Alternative form of saveour

Norman

Etymology

From Old French sauver, salver, from Gallo-Romance salvar, from Late Latin salvō, salvāre (“save”), from Latin salvus.

Verb

sauver

1. (Jersey) to save

Old French

Alternative forms

• salvar (Oaths of Strasbourg)
• salver

Etymology

From Late Latin salvāre, from Latin salvus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sau̯ˈveːɾ/

Verb

sauver

1. to save (remove from danger)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-v, *-vs, *-vt are modified to f, s, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		sauver			avoir sauvé
gerund		en sauvant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		sauvant
past participle		sauvé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	sauf	sauves	sauve	sauvons	sauvez	sauvent
	imperfect	sauvoie, sauveie, sauvoe, sauveve	sauvoies, sauveies, sauvoes, sauveves	sauvoit, sauveit, sauvot, sauveve	sauviiens, sauviens	sauviiez, sauviez	sauvoient, sauveient, sauvoent, sauvevent
	preterite	sauvai	sauvas	sauva	sauvames	sauvastes	sauverent
	future	sauverai	sauveras	sauvera	sauverons	sauveroiz, sauvereiz, sauverez	sauveront
	conditional	sauveroie, sauvereie	sauveroies, sauvereies	sauveroit, sauvereit	sauveriiens, sauveriens	sauveriiez, sauveriez	sauveroient, sauvereient
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	sauf	saus	saut	sauvons	sauvez	sauvent
	imperfect	sauvasse	sauvasses	sauvast	sauvissons, sauvissiens	sauvissoiz, sauvissez, sauvissiez	sauvassent
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	–
		—	sauve	—	sauvons	sauvez	—

Derived terms

• salvaige (whence English salvage)

Descendants

• Middle French: saulver
  • French: sauver
• Norman: sauver (Jersey)
• → Middle English: saven, saave, salve, save, savi, savun, savye, savyn; salvin, sauven, sauvin, sawvin; safe, saffe, sauve, sayve; sovy
  • English: save
  • Scots: safe, sauf