croire
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French creire, croire, from Latin crēdere, from Proto-Italic *krezðō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱred dʰeh₁- (“to place one's heart, i.e. to trust, believe”), compound phrase of oblique case form of *ḱḗr (“heart”) and *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”).
See cognates in regional languages in France : Norman creire, Gallo craire, Picard croère, Bourguignon croire, Franco-Provençal crêre, Occitan creire or créser, Corsican credè.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kʁwaʁ/
audio (file)
Verb
croire
- (transitive) to believe (someone)
- Il jure qu’il dit la vérité. Je ne le crois pas.
- He swears that he's telling the truth. I do not believe him.
- Je crois que c’est vrai.
- I believe that it is true.
- to believe, to accept as true [+ à (something)]
- croire à quelque chose ― to believe in something
- Les français croient à l’amour.
- The French believe in love.
- Croyez-vous à l’existence de Dieu?
- Do you believe in the existence of God?
- Nous croyons à la venue du messie.
- We believe in the coming of the Messiah.
- to believe, to have faith [+ en (object) = in]
- croire en quelqu’un, en quelque chose ― to have faith in someone, in something
- Oui, je crois en Dieu.
- Yes, I believe in God.
- Je crois en toi.
- I have faith in you.
- Il ne croit qu’en soi.
- He only believes in himself.
- 2013, Zaz, Je rentre:
- Je fais la promesse de ne plus croire en ce qui me ment / Ne plus me nier dans ma souffrance
- I promise to stop believing in things that deceive me / To no longer deny myself in my suffering
- (reflexive, often followed by an adjective) to think of oneself as, to consider oneself
- Il se croit parfait.
- He thinks he's perfect.
Conjugation
Conjugation of croire (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | croire | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | croyant /kʁwa.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | cru /kʁy/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | crois /kʁwa/ |
crois /kʁwa/ |
croit /kʁwa/ |
croyons /kʁwa.jɔ̃/ |
croyez /kʁwa.je/ |
croient /kʁwa/ |
| imperfect | croyais /kʁwa.jɛ/ |
croyais /kʁwa.jɛ/ |
croyait /kʁwa.jɛ/ |
croyions /kʁwaj.jɔ̃/ |
croyiez /kʁwaj.je/ |
croyaient /kʁwa.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | crus /kʁy/ |
crus /kʁy/ |
crut /kʁy/ |
crûmes /kʁym/ |
crûtes /kʁyt/ |
crurent /kʁyʁ/ | |
| future | croirai /kʁwa.ʁe/ |
croiras /kʁwa.ʁa/ |
croira /kʁwa.ʁa/ |
croirons /kʁwa.ʁɔ̃/ |
croirez /kʁwa.ʁe/ |
croiront /kʁwa.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | croirais /kʁwa.ʁɛ/ |
croirais /kʁwa.ʁɛ/ |
croirait /kʁwa.ʁɛ/ |
croirions /kʁwa.ʁjɔ̃/ |
croiriez /kʁwa.ʁje/ |
croiraient /kʁwa.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 | croie /kʁwa/ |
croies /kʁwa/ |
croie /kʁwa/ |
croyions /kʁwaj.jɔ̃/ |
croyiez /kʁwaj.je/ |
croient /kʁwa/ |
| imperfect2 | crusse /kʁys/ |
crusses /kʁys/ |
crût /kʁy/ |
crussions /kʁy.sjɔ̃/ |
crussiez /kʁy.sje/ |
crussent /kʁys/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | crois /kʁwa/ |
— | croyons /kʁwa.jɔ̃/ |
croyez /kʁwa.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
- à en croire
- croire dur comme fer
- croire sur parole
- croyez-le ou non
- il faut le voir pour le croire
- ne pas croire si bien dire
- ne pas en croire ses oreilles
- ne pas en croire ses yeux
- que tu crois
- recroire
- se croire le premier moutardier du pape
- se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter
- tel est pris qui croyait prendre
Related terms
Further reading
- “croire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French
Alternative forms
- credre, creidre (archaic)
- craire, creire (northern)
Pronunciation
Verb
croire
Conjugation
This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem croi distinct from the unstressed stem cre, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | croire | avoir creü | |||||
| gerund | en creant | gerund of avoir + past participle | |||||
| present participle | creant | ||||||
| past participle | creü | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses |
present | croi | croiz | croit | creons | creez | croient |
| imperfect | creoie, creeie | creoies, creeies | creoit, creeit | creïiens, creïens | creïiez, creïez | creoient, creeient | |
| preterite | crui, creï | creüs, creïs | crut, creï | creümes, creïmes | creüstes, creïstes | crurent, creïrent | |
| future | crerai | creras | crera | crerons | creroiz, crereiz, crerez | creront | |
| conditional | creroie, crereie | creroies, crereies | creroit, crereit | creriiens, creriens | creriiez, creriez | creroient, crereient | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | present tense of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | preterite tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses |
present | croie | croies | croie | creons | creez | croient |
| imperfect | creüsse, creïsse | creüsses, creïsses | creüst, creïst | creüssons, creüssiens, creïssons, creïssiens | creüssoiz, creüssez, creüssiez, creïssoiz, creïssez, creïssiez | creüssent, creïssent | |
| compound tenses |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | croi | — | creons | creez | — | ||
Descendants
References
- “Appendix E: Irregular Verbs” in E. Einhorn (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 152
Romanian
Declension
References
- croire in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.