posséder

See also: posseder

French

Etymology

From an alteration of an older Middle French possider, from Latin possidēre. Compare also the Old French forms porseoir, porseir, porsoier.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pɔ.se.de/
Audio (file)

Verb

posséder

to own; to possess
- 1901, Anatole France, chapter XVII, in Monsieur Bergeret à Paris:
  Aucun riche ne possède plus que moi ce vieux chêne de Fontainebleau ou ce tableau du Louvre. Et ils sont plus à moi qu’au riche si je sais mieux en jouir.
  No rich man owns an old oak in the forest of Fontainebleau or a painting in the Louvre any more than I do. And they belong more to me than to the rich man if I know how to enjoy them better.

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written posséder-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written possèder-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

Conjugation of posséder (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	posséder
present participle or gerund¹	simple	possédant /pɔ.se.dɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		possédé /pɔ.se.de/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	possède /pɔ.sɛd/	possèdes /pɔ.sɛd/	possède /pɔ.sɛd/	possédons /pɔ.se.dɔ̃/	possédez /pɔ.se.de/	possèdent /pɔ.sɛd/
	imperfect	possédais /pɔ.se.dɛ/	possédais /pɔ.se.dɛ/	possédait /pɔ.se.dɛ/	possédions /pɔ.se.djɔ̃/	possédiez /pɔ.se.dje/	possédaient /pɔ.se.dɛ/
	past historic²	possédai /pɔ.se.de/	possédas /pɔ.se.da/	posséda /pɔ.se.da/	possédâmes /pɔ.se.dam/	possédâtes /pɔ.se.dat/	possédèrent /pɔ.se.dɛʁ/
	future	possèderai or posséderai /pɔ.sɛ.dʁe/ or /pɔ.se.dʁe/	possèderas or posséderas /pɔ.sɛ.dʁa/ or /pɔ.se.dʁa/	possèdera or possédera /pɔ.sɛ.dʁa/ or /pɔ.se.dʁa/	possèderons or posséderons /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɔ̃/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɔ̃/	possèderez or posséderez /pɔ.sɛ.dʁe/ or /pɔ.se.dʁe/	possèderont or posséderont /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɔ̃/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	possèderais or posséderais /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/	possèderais or posséderais /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/	possèderait or posséderait /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/	possèderions or posséderions /pɔ.sɛ.də.ʁjɔ̃/ or /pɔ.se.də.ʁjɔ̃/	possèderiez or posséderiez /pɔ.sɛ.də.ʁje/ or /pɔ.se.də.ʁje/	possèderaient or posséderaient /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/
(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	possède /pɔ.sɛd/	possèdes /pɔ.sɛd/	possède /pɔ.sɛd/	possédions /pɔ.se.djɔ̃/	possédiez /pɔ.se.dje/	possèdent /pɔ.sɛd/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	possédasse /pɔ.se.das/	possédasses /pɔ.se.das/	possédât /pɔ.se.da/	possédassions /pɔ.se.da.sjɔ̃/	possédassiez /pɔ.se.da.sje/	possédassent /pɔ.se.das/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	possède /pɔ.sɛd/	—	possédons /pɔ.se.dɔ̃/	possédez /pɔ.se.de/	—
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).

Derived terms

posséder sexuellement