seoir

French

Alternative forms

• soir (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French seoir, from Old French seoir, from earlier sedeir, from Latin sedēre, from Proto-Italic *sedēō, from Proto-Indo-European *sed-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: soir
• Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

seoir (defective)

1. (literary) to be suitable for; to be proper for
   • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act I, scene I:

     L’ébranlement sied bien aux plus fermes courages

     To waver is fitting for those of firmest courage

2. (law) to be situated
3. (dated or literary) sit down (see also s’asseoir)
   • 1785, Jean Baptiste Rousseau, Annales poétique depuis l’origine de la poésie françoise, Tome 33‎^[1], page 225:

     Au carabet, lorſque je ſis à table,
     Je ne bois qu’à ma ſoif, & que le cœur m’en dit:
     Mais quand Margot me tient au lit,
     Tout-ci, tout-ca,
     Par-ci, par-là !

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1848, Honoré de Balzac, L’Envers de l’Histoire contemporaine, premier épisode:

     Les trois personnages se levèrent, la maîtresse de la maison se leva ; puis quand le prêtre eut avancé pour Godefroid un fauteuil, quand le futur locataire se fut assis sur un geste de Mme de La Chanterie, accompagné de ce vieux mot : « Seyez-vous, monsieur ! » le Parisien se crut à une énorme distance de Paris, en Basse-Bretagne, ou au fond du Canada.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of seoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	seoir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	séant or seyant
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		sis
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sieds	sieds	sied	seyons	seyez	siéent
	imperfect	seyais	seyais	seyait	seyions	seyiez	seyaient
	past historic2	sis	sis	sit	sîmes	sîtes	sirent
	future	siérai	siéras	siéra	siérons	siérez	siéront
	conditional	siérais	siérais	siérait	siérions	siériez	siéraient
(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	siée	siées	siée	—	—	siéent
	imperfect2	—	—	—	—	—	—
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sieds	—	seyons	seyez	—
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).

Related terms

• asseoir

Further reading

• “seoir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• osier, seroi

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French seoir, from earlier sedeir, from Latin sedēre.

Verb

seoir

1. to be; to be situated
   • c. 1369, Jean Froissart, Chroniques:

     Vous devés savoir que assés près de la ou ils estoient, siet la ville de Iuberot

     You should know that quite close to there where they were, is the city of Juberot

2. (reflexive, se seoir) to sit down (be sitting)

Old French

Etymology

From an earlier sedeir, from Latin sedēre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈoi̯ɾ/

Verb

seoir

1. (transitive) to sit (make someone sit)
2. (reflexive, se seoir) to sit down

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem sie distinct from the unstressed stem se, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of seoir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		seoir			avoir sis
gerund		en seant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		seant
past participle		sis
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	sié	siez	siet	seons	seez	sieent
	imperfect	seoie, seeie	seoies, seeies	seoit, seeit	seïiens, seïens	seïiez, seïez	seoient, seeient
	preterite	sis	seṣis	sist	seṣimes	seṣistes	sisdrent
	future	serrai	serras	serra	serrons	serroiz, serreiz, serrez	serront
	conditional	serroie, serreie	serroies, serreies	serroit, serreit	serriiens, serriens	serriiez, serriez	serroient, serreient
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	siee, sië	siees, siës	siee, sië	seons, seiiens, seions	seez, seiiez	sieent, siënt
	imperfect	seṣisse	seṣisses	seṣist	seṣissons, seṣissiens	seṣissoiz, seṣissez, seṣissiez	seṣissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	sie	—	seons	seez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: seoir
  • French: seoir