vieillir

French

Etymology

From vieux, vieil (“old”) +‎ -ir. Compare Catalan envellir, Spanish envejecer, Portuguese envelhecer.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /vjɛ.jiʁ/ ~ /vje.jiʁ/
Audio (France (Lyon)): (file)
Audio (France (Lyon)): (file)
Audio (France (Somain)): (file)

Verb

vieillir

(intransitive) to grow old, to age
(transitive) to make (someone) look older
(reflexive) to make oneself look older

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of vieillir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	vieillir
present participle or gerund¹	simple	vieillissant /vjɛ.ji.sɑ̃/ or /vje.ji.sɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		vieilli /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	vieillis /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	vieillis /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	vieillit /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	vieillissons /vjɛ.ji.sɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.sɔ̃/	vieillissez /vjɛ.ji.se/ or /vje.ji.se/	vieillissent /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/
	imperfect	vieillissais /vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /vje.ji.sɛ/	vieillissais /vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /vje.ji.sɛ/	vieillissait /vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /vje.ji.sɛ/	vieillissions /vjɛ.ji.sjɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.sjɔ̃/	vieillissiez /vjɛ.ji.sje/ or /vje.ji.sje/	vieillissaient /vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /vje.ji.sɛ/
	past historic²	vieillis /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	vieillis /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	vieillit /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	vieillîmes /vjɛ.jim/ or /vje.jim/	vieillîtes /vjɛ.jit/ or /vje.jit/	vieillirent /vjɛ.jiʁ/ or /vje.jiʁ/
	future	vieillirai /vjɛ.ji.ʁe/ or /vje.ji.ʁe/	vieilliras /vjɛ.ji.ʁa/ or /vje.ji.ʁa/	vieillira /vjɛ.ji.ʁa/ or /vje.ji.ʁa/	vieillirons /vjɛ.ji.ʁɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.ʁɔ̃/	vieillirez /vjɛ.ji.ʁe/ or /vje.ji.ʁe/	vieilliront /vjɛ.ji.ʁɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	vieillirais /vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /vje.ji.ʁɛ/	vieillirais /vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /vje.ji.ʁɛ/	vieillirait /vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /vje.ji.ʁɛ/	vieillirions /vjɛ.ji.ʁjɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.ʁjɔ̃/	vieilliriez /vjɛ.ji.ʁje/ or /vje.ji.ʁje/	vieilliraient /vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /vje.ji.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	vieillisse /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/	vieillisses /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/	vieillisse /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/	vieillissions /vjɛ.ji.sjɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.sjɔ̃/	vieillissiez /vjɛ.ji.sje/ or /vje.ji.sje/	vieillissent /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	vieillisse /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/	vieillisses /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/	vieillît /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	vieillissions /vjɛ.ji.sjɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.sjɔ̃/	vieillissiez /vjɛ.ji.sje/ or /vje.ji.sje/	vieillissent /vjɛ.jis/ or /vje.jis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	vieillis /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/	—	vieillissons /vjɛ.ji.sɔ̃/ or /vje.ji.sɔ̃/	vieillissez /vjɛ.ji.se/ or /vje.ji.se/	—
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).

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of se vieillir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	s'être + past participle
infinitive	simple	se vieillir
present participle or gerund¹	simple	se vieillissant /sə vjɛ.ji.sɑ̃/ or /sə vje.ji.sɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		vieilli /vjɛ.ji/ or /vje.ji/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me vieillis /mə vjɛ.ji/ or /mə vje.ji/	te vieillis /tə vjɛ.ji/ or /tə vje.ji/	se vieillit /sə vjɛ.ji/ or /sə vje.ji/	nous vieillissons /nu vjɛ.ji.sɔ̃/ or /nu vje.ji.sɔ̃/	vous vieillissez /vu vjɛ.ji.se/ or /vu vje.ji.se/	se vieillissent /sə vjɛ.jis/ or /sə vje.jis/
	imperfect	me vieillissais /mə vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /mə vje.ji.sɛ/	te vieillissais /tə vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /tə vje.ji.sɛ/	se vieillissait /sə vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /sə vje.ji.sɛ/	nous vieillissions /nu vjɛ.ji.sjɔ̃/ or /nu vje.ji.sjɔ̃/	vous vieillissiez /vu vjɛ.ji.sje/ or /vu vje.ji.sje/	se vieillissaient /sə vjɛ.ji.sɛ/ or /sə vje.ji.sɛ/
	past historic²	me vieillis /mə vjɛ.ji/ or /mə vje.ji/	te vieillis /tə vjɛ.ji/ or /tə vje.ji/	se vieillit /sə vjɛ.ji/ or /sə vje.ji/	nous vieillîmes /nu vjɛ.jim/ or /nu vje.jim/	vous vieillîtes /vu vjɛ.jit/ or /vu vje.jit/	se vieillirent /sə vjɛ.jiʁ/ or /sə vje.jiʁ/
	future	me vieillirai /mə vjɛ.ji.ʁe/ or /mə vje.ji.ʁe/	te vieilliras /tə vjɛ.ji.ʁa/ or /tə vje.ji.ʁa/	se vieillira /sə vjɛ.ji.ʁa/ or /sə vje.ji.ʁa/	nous vieillirons /nu vjɛ.ji.ʁɔ̃/ or /nu vje.ji.ʁɔ̃/	vous vieillirez /vu vjɛ.ji.ʁe/ or /vu vje.ji.ʁe/	se vieilliront /sə vjɛ.ji.ʁɔ̃/ or /sə vje.ji.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me vieillirais /mə vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /mə vje.ji.ʁɛ/	te vieillirais /tə vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /tə vje.ji.ʁɛ/	se vieillirait /sə vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /sə vje.ji.ʁɛ/	nous vieillirions /nu vjɛ.ji.ʁjɔ̃/ or /nu vje.ji.ʁjɔ̃/	vous vieilliriez /vu vjɛ.ji.ʁje/ or /vu vje.ji.ʁje/	se vieilliraient /sə vjɛ.ji.ʁɛ/ or /sə vje.ji.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior²	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me vieillisse /mə vjɛ.jis/ or /mə vje.jis/	te vieillisses /tə vjɛ.jis/ or /tə vje.jis/	se vieillisse /sə vjɛ.jis/ or /sə vje.jis/	nous vieillissions /nu vjɛ.ji.sjɔ̃/ or /nu vje.ji.sjɔ̃/	vous vieillissiez /vu vjɛ.ji.sje/ or /vu vje.ji.sje/	se vieillissent /sə vjɛ.jis/ or /sə vje.jis/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	me vieillisse /mə vjɛ.jis/ or /mə vje.jis/	te vieillisses /tə vjɛ.jis/ or /tə vje.jis/	se vieillît /sə vjɛ.ji/ or /sə vje.ji/	nous vieillissions /nu vjɛ.ji.sjɔ̃/ or /nu vje.ji.sjɔ̃/	vous vieillissiez /vu vjɛ.ji.sje/ or /vu vje.ji.sje/	se vieillissent /sə vjɛ.jis/ or /sə vje.jis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	vieillis-toi /vjɛ.ji.twa/ or /vje.ji.twa/	—	vieillissons-nous /vjɛ.ji.sɔ̃.nu/ or /vje.ji.sɔ̃.nu/	vieillissez-vous /vjɛ.ji.se.vu/ or /vje.ji.se.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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).

vieillir

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading