vouvoyer
French
Alternative forms
Etymology
An alteration of voussoyer (vous + -oyer), influenced by the v in vous and the form of tutoyer.
Pronunciation
Verb
vouvoyer
- (transitive) to address someone using the formal pronoun vous rather than the informal tu, to use the V-form, to "you" (as opposed to "to "thou"")
- Antonym: tutoyer
Conjugation
This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like noyer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the 'y' with an 'i' before a silent 'e'.
Conjugation of vouvoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | vouvoyer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | vouvoyant /vu.vwa.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | vouvoyé /vu.vwa.je/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | vouvoie /vu.vwa/ |
vouvoies /vu.vwa/ |
vouvoie /vu.vwa/ |
vouvoyons /vu.vwa.jɔ̃/ |
vouvoyez /vu.vwa.je/ |
vouvoient /vu.vwa/ |
| imperfect | vouvoyais /vu.vwa.jɛ/ |
vouvoyais /vu.vwa.jɛ/ |
vouvoyait /vu.vwa.jɛ/ |
vouvoyions /vu.vwaj.jɔ̃/ |
vouvoyiez /vu.vwaj.je/ |
vouvoyaient /vu.vwa.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | vouvoyai /vu.vwa.je/ |
vouvoyas /vu.vwa.ja/ |
vouvoya /vu.vwa.ja/ |
vouvoyâmes /vu.vwa.jam/ |
vouvoyâtes /vu.vwa.jat/ |
vouvoyèrent /vu.vwa.jɛʁ/ | |
| future | vouvoierai /vu.vwa.ʁe/ |
vouvoieras /vu.vwa.ʁa/ |
vouvoiera /vu.vwa.ʁa/ |
vouvoierons /vu.vwa.ʁɔ̃/ |
vouvoierez /vu.vwa.ʁe/ |
vouvoieront /vu.vwa.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | vouvoierais /vu.vwa.ʁɛ/ |
vouvoierais /vu.vwa.ʁɛ/ |
vouvoierait /vu.vwa.ʁɛ/ |
vouvoierions /vu.vwa.ʁjɔ̃/ |
vouvoieriez /vu.vwa.ʁje/ |
vouvoieraient /vu.vwa.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 | vouvoie /vu.vwa/ |
vouvoies /vu.vwa/ |
vouvoie /vu.vwa/ |
vouvoyions /vu.vwaj.jɔ̃/ |
vouvoyiez /vu.vwaj.je/ |
vouvoient /vu.vwa/ |
| imperfect2 | vouvoyasse /vu.vwa.jas/ |
vouvoyasses /vu.vwa.jas/ |
vouvoyât /vu.vwa.ja/ |
vouvoyassions /vu.vwa.ja.sjɔ̃/ |
vouvoyassiez /vu.vwa.ja.sje/ |
vouvoyassent /vu.vwa.jas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | vouvoie /vu.vwa/ |
— | vouvoyons /vu.vwa.jɔ̃/ |
vouvoyez /vu.vwa.je/ |
— | |
| 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
See also
Further reading
- “vouvoyer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.