obéir
See also: obeir and obeïr
French
Etymology
From Middle French obeir, from Old French obeir, borrowed from Latin oboedīre.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɔ.be.iʁ/
audio (file)
Verb
obéir
- (intransitive) to obey (+ à a person)
- obéir à son patron.
- To obey one's boss.
- (intransitive) to obey, to follow (+ à a rule or instruction)
- Obéir aux instructions.
- To obey the instructions.
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 obéir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | obéir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | obéissant /ɔ.be.i.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | obéi /ɔ.be.i/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ | obéit /ɔ.be.i/ | obéissons /ɔ.be.i.sɔ̃/ | obéissez /ɔ.be.i.se/ | obéissent /ɔ.be.is/ |
| imperfect | obéissais /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ | obéissais /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ | obéissait /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ | obéissions /ɔ.be.i.sjɔ̃/ | obéissiez /ɔ.be.i.sje/ | obéissaient /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ | obéit /ɔ.be.i/ | obéîmes /ɔ.be.im/ | obéîtes /ɔ.be.it/ | obéirent /ɔ.be.iʁ/ | |
| future | obéirai /ɔ.be.i.ʁe/ | obéiras /ɔ.be.i.ʁa/ | obéira /ɔ.be.i.ʁa/ | obéirons /ɔ.be.i.ʁɔ̃/ | obéirez /ɔ.be.i.ʁe/ | obéiront /ɔ.be.i.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | obéirais /ɔ.be.i.ʁɛ/ | obéirais /ɔ.be.i.ʁɛ/ | obéirait /ɔ.be.i.ʁɛ/ | obéirions /ɔ.be.i.ʁjɔ̃/ | obéiriez /ɔ.be.i.ʁje/ | obéiraient /ɔ.be.i.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 | obéisse /ɔ.be.is/ | obéisses /ɔ.be.is/ | obéisse /ɔ.be.is/ | obéissions /ɔ.be.i.sjɔ̃/ | obéissiez /ɔ.be.i.sje/ | obéissent /ɔ.be.is/ |
| imperfect2 | obéisse /ɔ.be.is/ | obéisses /ɔ.be.is/ | obéît /ɔ.be.i/ | obéissions /ɔ.be.i.sjɔ̃/ | obéissiez /ɔ.be.i.sje/ | obéissent /ɔ.be.is/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ | — | obéissons /ɔ.be.i.sɔ̃/ | obéissez /ɔ.be.i.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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Antonyms
- désobéir
Derived terms
- obéissant
- obéissance
Further reading
- “obéir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- boire, broie