savoir

§French

§Alternative forms

• sçavoir (obsolete)

§Etymology

From Old French saveir, savoir, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre "to taste", and "to know" in Late Latin, by influence of the adjective sapiēns (“wise”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sap- (“to try, to research”). The verb was for a long time spelled sçavoir from Middle French until the 18th century, by false regression to Classical Latin scīre "to know".

The forms of the verb with -ch- are a regular reflex of Latin -pi- (/-pj-/). Compare seiche, approcher, hache.

§Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /savwaʁ/
• Rhymes: -waʁ

§Verb

savoir

1. to know (something)

   Il est difficile de savoir si elle ment.

   It's difficult to know if she's lying

   Difficile à savoir (expression; confer Difficile à dire, voir, faire)

2. to know how (to do something)

   Savez-vous nager?

   Do you know how to swim?

3. to be able to, to be apt to (especially in the negative conditional)

   Il ne saurait tarder que...

   It cannot/will not be long before...

   «Il ne saurait être considéré comme un acte de résistance puisque le Hamas a a cessé la résistance dans la bande de Gaza», a poursuivi M. Abbas.» – Le Devoir, 3 September 2010

§Usage notes

To translate know in the sense "to be acquainted with", the verb connaître is used.

§Synonyms

• (to know): connaître, connaitre
• (to know how to): pouvoir

§Related terms

• à savoir
• savant
• savoir-faire
• savoir-vivre

§Conjugation

   Conjugation of savoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		savoir			avoir su
gerund		en sachant			en ayant su
present participle		sachant
past participle		su
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	sais	sais	sait	savons	savez	savent
	imperfect	savais	savais	savait	savions	saviez	savaient
	past historic1	sus	sus	sut	sûmes	sûtes	surent
	future	saurai	sauras	saura	saurons	saurez	sauront
	conditional	saurais	saurais	saurait	saurions	sauriez	sauraient
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	sache	saches	sache	sachions	sachiez	sachent
	imperfect1	susse	susses	sût	sussions	sussiez	sussent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	sache	—	sachons	sachez	—
1literary tenses

§Noun

savoir m (plural savoirs)

1. knowledge

§Anagrams

• avoirs

§External links

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

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§Old French

§Alternative forms

• saveir

§Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō (“I taste”), later "I know".

§Verb

savoir

1. to know
   • circa 1180,, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:

     Mes qui l’apele il ne le sot :
     Fantosme cuide que ce soit.

     Mais he did not know who was calling him
     He thought that it was a ghost

   • circa 1155, Wace, Le Roman de Brut:

     Et mult sot de chiens et d'oisiax

     And he knew much about dogs and about birds

2. to be skilled in

   molt bien savoit le latin

   he was very skilled in Latin

§Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem sev distinct from the unstressed stem sav, 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 savoir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		savoir			avoir seü
gerund		en savant, sachant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		savant, sachant
past participle		seü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jeo, jou	tu	il	nos, nous	vos, vous	ils
simple tenses	present	sai	ses	set	savons	savez	sevent
	imperfect	savoie, saveie	savoies, saveies	savoit, saveit	saviiens, saviens	saviiez, saviez	savoient, saveient
	preterite	soi	seüs	sot	seümes	seüstes	sorent
	future	savrai, sarai	savras, saras	savra, sara	savrons, sarons	savroiz, savreiz, savrez, saroiz, sareiz, sarez	savront, saront
	conditional	savroie, savreie, saroie, sareie	savroies, savreies, saroies, sareies	savroit, savreit, saroit, sareit	savriiens, savriens, sariiens, sariens	savriiez, savriez, sariiez, sariez	savroient, savreient, saroient, sareient
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 jeo, jou	que tu	qu’il	que nos, nous	que vos, vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	sache	saches	sache	sachiens, sachons	sachiez	sachent
	imperfect	seüsse	seüsses	seüst	seüssons, seüssiens	seüssoiz, seüssez, seüssiez	seüssent
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, nous	vos, vous	–
		—	sache	—	sachiens, sachons	sachiez	—

§Descendants

• French: savoir