concevoir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French concevoir, from Vulgar Latin *concipēre, from Latin concipere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sə.vwaʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

concevoir

1. to conceive:
   1. to conceive (an idea)
      • 1868, Jean Déhès, Essai sur l’amélioration des races chevalines de la France, École impériale vétérinaire de Toulouse:

        Ne regardons donc plus comme des principes absolus des faits n’ayant jamais existé que dans l’imagination de ceux qui les ont conçus […]

        Let us therefore no longer consider as absolute principles facts which have never existed, save in the imagination of those who conceived them […]

      • 2006, Tom Wolfe, Moi, Charlotte Simmons, Robert Laffont:

        Il a essayé de concevoir combien des six mille deux cents étudiants de Dupont étaient à ce moment en train de forniquer. Concevoir, au sens d’être doué d’un regard qui traverserait les murs pour découvrir toutes ces bêtes à deux dos occupées à se tortiller et à ruer et à y aller.

        He tried to conceive of how many of the six thousand and two hundred students at Dupont were in the process of fornicating this very moment. Conceive, in the sense of being gifted with a sight that would go through the walls to discover all those beasts with two backs busy wriggling and bucking and going at it.

   2. to conceive, to conceive of; to understand, to comprehend
      • 1894, Anatole France, Le Lys rouge:

        Ma chère amie, je ne vous conçois pas. Vous êtes d’une inconséquence qui peut vous faire le plus grand tort.

        My dear friend, I don't understand you. You are being thoughtless in a way that might do you the greatest harm.

   3. (dated) to conceive (a baby)
2. to design

   concevoir les plans d’un immeuble ― to design the plans for a building

Conjugation

Conjugation of concevoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	concevoir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	concevant /kɔ̃s.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		conçu /kɔ̃.sy/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	conçois /kɔ̃.swa/	conçois /kɔ̃.swa/	conçoit /kɔ̃.swa/	concevons /kɔ̃s.vɔ̃/	concevez /kɔ̃s.ve/	conçoivent /kɔ̃.swav/
	imperfect	concevais /kɔ̃s.vɛ/	concevais /kɔ̃s.vɛ/	concevait /kɔ̃s.vɛ/	concevions /kɔ̃.sə.vjɔ̃/	conceviez /kɔ̃.sə.vje/	concevaient /kɔ̃s.vɛ/
	past historic2	conçus /kɔ̃.sy/	conçus /kɔ̃.sy/	conçut /kɔ̃.sy/	conçûmes /kɔ̃.sym/	conçûtes /kɔ̃.syt/	conçurent /kɔ̃.syʁ/
	future	concevrai /kɔ̃.sə.vʁe/	concevras /kɔ̃.sə.vʁa/	concevra /kɔ̃.sə.vʁa/	concevrons /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɔ̃/	concevrez /kɔ̃.sə.vʁe/	concevront /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	concevrais /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɛ/	concevrais /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɛ/	concevrait /kɔ̃.sə.vʁɛ/	concevrions /kɔ̃.sə.vʁi.jɔ̃/	concevriez /kɔ̃.sə.vʁi.je/	concevraient /kɔ̃.sə.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	conçoive /kɔ̃.swav/	conçoives /kɔ̃.swav/	conçoive /kɔ̃.swav/	concevions /kɔ̃.sə.vjɔ̃/	conceviez /kɔ̃.sə.vje/	conçoivent /kɔ̃.swav/
	imperfect2	conçusse /kɔ̃.sys/	conçusses /kɔ̃.sys/	conçût /kɔ̃.sy/	conçussions /kɔ̃.sy.sjɔ̃/	conçussiez /kɔ̃.sy.sje/	conçussent /kɔ̃.sys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	conçois /kɔ̃.swa/	—	concevons /kɔ̃s.vɔ̃/	concevez /kɔ̃s.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).

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• conceivre
• conçoivre

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *concipēre, variant form of Classical Latin concipere, present active infinitive of concipiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kunt͡səˈvoi̯ɾ/

Verb

concevoir

1. to conceive (an idea)
2. to conceive (a baby)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem conçoiv distinct from the unstressed stem concev, 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 concevoir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		concevoir			avoir conceü
gerund		en concevant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		concevant
past participle		conceü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	conçoif, conçoi	conçois	conçoit	concevons	concevez	conçoivent
	imperfect	concevoie, conceveie	concevoies, conceveies	concevoit, conceveit	conceviiens, conceviens	conceviiez, conceviez	concevoient, conceveient
	preterite	conçui	conceüs	conçut	conceümes	conceüstes	conçurent
	future	concevrai	concevras	concevra	concevrons	concevroiz, concevreiz, concevrez	concevront
	conditional	concevroie, concevreie	concevroies, concevreies	concevroit, concevreit	concevriiens, concevriens	concevriiez, concevriez	concevroient, concevreient
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	conçoive	conçoives	conçoive	concevons	concevez	conçoivent
	imperfect	conceüsse	conceüsses	conceüst	conceüssons, conceüssiens	conceüssoiz, conceüssez, conceüssiez	conceüssent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	conçoif	—	concevons	concevez	—

Descendants

• → English: conceive
• French: concevoir

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (concevoir, supplement)
• conceivre on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub