habiter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French habiter, borrowed from Latin habitāre.

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.bi.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

habiter

1. (transitive) to live in, to occupy (to have as a home.)

   L’homme habitait un appartement crasseux et sombre.

   The man lived in a dirty, dark flat.

   Elle a habité cinq mois rue Vaubecourt, puis elle a déménagé.

   She lived in Vaubecourt street for five months, then she moved.

   Il habite une ville où tous sont très gentils.

   He lives in a town where everyone is very kind.

2. (intransitive) to live (in)

   Où habitez-vous ?

   Where do you live?

   J’habite à Paris.

   I live in Paris.

Conjugation

Conjugation of habiter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	habiter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	habitant /a.bi.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		habité /a.bi.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	habite /a.bit/	habites /a.bit/	habite /a.bit/	habitons /a.bi.tɔ̃/	habitez /a.bi.te/	habitent /a.bit/
	imperfect	habitais /a.bi.tɛ/	habitais /a.bi.tɛ/	habitait /a.bi.tɛ/	habitions /a.bi.tjɔ̃/	habitiez /a.bi.tje/	habitaient /a.bi.tɛ/
	past historic2	habitai /a.bi.te/	habitas /a.bi.ta/	habita /a.bi.ta/	habitâmes /a.bi.tam/	habitâtes /a.bi.tat/	habitèrent /a.bi.tɛʁ/
	future	habiterai /a.bi.tʁe/	habiteras /a.bi.tʁa/	habitera /a.bi.tʁa/	habiterons /a.bi.tʁɔ̃/	habiterez /a.bi.tʁe/	habiteront /a.bi.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	habiterais /a.bi.tʁɛ/	habiterais /a.bi.tʁɛ/	habiterait /a.bi.tʁɛ/	habiterions /a.bi.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	habiteriez /a.bi.tə.ʁje/	habiteraient /a.bi.tʁɛ/
(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	habite /a.bit/	habites /a.bit/	habite /a.bit/	habitions /a.bi.tjɔ̃/	habitiez /a.bi.tje/	habitent /a.bit/
	imperfect2	habitasse /a.bi.tas/	habitasses /a.bi.tas/	habitât /a.bi.ta/	habitassions /a.bi.ta.sjɔ̃/	habitassiez /a.bi.ta.sje/	habitassent /a.bi.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	habite /a.bit/	—	habitons /a.bi.tɔ̃/	habitez /a.bi.te/	—
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

• habitant
• habitation

 

Further reading

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

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈha.bi.ter/, [ˈhäbɪt̪ɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.bi.ter/, [ˈäːbit̪er]

Verb

habiter

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of habitō

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin habitāre.

Verb

habiter

1. to live (in a place)

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of habiter

infinitive	simple	habiter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	habitant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		habité
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	habite	habites	habite	habitons	habitez	habitent
	imperfect	habitois, habitoys	habitois, habitoys	habitoit, habitoyt	habitions, habityons	habitiez, habityez	habitoient, habitoyent
	past historic	habita	habitas	habita	habitasmes	habitastes	habiterent
	future	habiterai, habiteray	habiteras	habitera	habiterons	habiterez	habiteront
	conditional	habiterois, habiteroys	habiterois, habiteroys	habiteroit, habiteroyt	habiterions, habiteryons	habiteriez, habiteryez	habiteroient, habiteroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	habite	habites	habite	habitons	habitez	habitent
	imperfect	habitasse	habitasses	habitast	habitassions	habitassiez	habitassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	habite	—	habitons	habitez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: habiter