crever

French

Etymology

From Old French crever, inherited from Latin crepāre (“to rattle, creak, crack”).

The informal sense of 'die' is shared with the Italian cognate crepare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁə.ve/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

crever

1. (transitive) to pop, burst

   crever un œil à quelqu’un ― to gouge someone's eye, to poke someone's eye out, to put someone's eye out

2. (intransitive) to have a puncture

   Mon pneu a à nouveau crevé. ― My tire went flat again.

3. (informal, intransitive) to snuff it, pop one's clogs (to die)

   Synonym: mourir

   crever de faim ― to be starving

   crever de soif ― to be parched

   crever de froid ― to be freezing

   crever de chaud ― to be boiling

4. (informal) to wear out, knacker

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il crève and the third-person singular future indicative il crèvera.

Conjugation of crever (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	crever
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	crevant /kʁə.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		crevé /kʁə.ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	crève /kʁɛv/	crèves /kʁɛv/	crève /kʁɛv/	crevons /kʁə.vɔ̃/	crevez /kʁə.ve/	crèvent /kʁɛv/
	imperfect	crevais /kʁə.vɛ/	crevais /kʁə.vɛ/	crevait /kʁə.vɛ/	crevions /kʁə.vjɔ̃/	creviez /kʁə.vje/	crevaient /kʁə.vɛ/
	past historic2	crevai /kʁə.ve/	crevas /kʁə.va/	creva /kʁə.va/	crevâmes /kʁə.vam/	crevâtes /kʁə.vat/	crevèrent /kʁə.vɛʁ/
	future	crèverai /kʁɛ.vʁe/ or /kʁe.vʁe/	crèveras /kʁɛ.vʁa/ or /kʁe.vʁa/	crèvera /kʁɛ.vʁa/ or /kʁe.vʁa/	crèverons /kʁɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /kʁe.vʁɔ̃/	crèverez /kʁɛ.vʁe/ or /kʁe.vʁe/	crèveront /kʁɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /kʁe.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	crèverais /kʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /kʁe.vʁɛ/	crèverais /kʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /kʁe.vʁɛ/	crèverait /kʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /kʁe.vʁɛ/	crèverions /kʁɛ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ or /kʁe.və.ʁjɔ̃/	crèveriez /kʁɛ.və.ʁje/ or /kʁe.və.ʁje/	crèveraient /kʁɛ.vʁɛ/ or /kʁe.vʁɛ/
(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	crève /kʁɛv/	crèves /kʁɛv/	crève /kʁɛv/	crevions /kʁə.vjɔ̃/	creviez /kʁə.vje/	crèvent /kʁɛv/
	imperfect2	crevasse /kʁə.vas/	crevasses /kʁə.vas/	crevât /kʁə.va/	crevassions /kʁə.va.sjɔ̃/	crevassiez /kʁə.va.sje/	crevassent /kʁə.vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	crève /kʁɛv/	—	crevons /kʁə.vɔ̃/	crevez /kʁə.ve/	—
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

• à crever
• crevant
• crever de faim
• crever la dalle
• crever le plafond
• crever les yeux
• crever l’abcès
• crevure
• marche ou crève

 

Further reading

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

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French crever (“to die”).

Verb

crever

1. to die

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

Old French

Etymology

From Latin crepāre, present active infinitive of crepō.

Verb

crever

1. to burst
2. to die

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-v, *-vs, *-vt are modified to f, s, t. This verb has a stressed present stem criev distinct from the unstressed stem crev. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		crever			avoir crevé
gerund		en crevant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		crevant
past participle		crevé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	crief	crieves	crieve	crevons	crevez	crievent
	imperfect	crevoie, creveie, crevoe, creveve	crevoies, creveies, crevoes, creveves	crevoit, creveit, crevot, creveve	creviiens, creviens	creviiez, creviez	crevoient, creveient, crevoent, crevevent
	preterite	crevai	crevas	creva	crevames	crevastes	creverent
	future	creverai	creveras	crevera	creverons	creveroiz, crevereiz, creverez	creveront
	conditional	creveroie, crevereie	creveroies, crevereies	creveroit, crevereit	creveriiens, creveriens	creveriiez, creveriez	creveroient, crevereient
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	crief	cries	criet	crevons	crevez	crievent
	imperfect	crevasse	crevasses	crevast	crevissons, crevissiens	crevissoiz, crevissez, crevissiez	crevassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	crieve	—	crevons	crevez	—

Related terms

• creveure

Further reading

• “crever”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (crever)