maudire

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French maudire, maldire, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin maledīcere (“to slander, curse”). Equivalent to mal +‎ dire. Cf. the Old French form maleir, which may have been inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo.diʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

maudire

1. (transitive) to curse

Conjugation

This verb lost virtually all contact with its etymological cognate dire. This is almost a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. Its only irregularities are in the past participle, which is maudit(e)(s) rather than *maudi(e)(s), and in the infinitive, which is maudire rather than *maudir.

Conjugation of maudire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	maudire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	maudissant /mo.di.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		maudit /mo.di/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	maudis /mo.di/	maudis /mo.di/	maudit /mo.di/	maudissons /mo.di.sɔ̃/	maudissez /mo.di.se/	maudissent /mo.dis/
	imperfect	maudissais /mo.di.sɛ/	maudissais /mo.di.sɛ/	maudissait /mo.di.sɛ/	maudissions /mo.di.sjɔ̃/	maudissiez /mo.di.sje/	maudissaient /mo.di.sɛ/
	past historic2	maudis /mo.di/	maudis /mo.di/	maudit /mo.di/	maudîmes /mo.dim/	maudîtes /mo.dit/	maudirent /mo.diʁ/
	future	maudirai /mo.di.ʁe/	maudiras /mo.di.ʁa/	maudira /mo.di.ʁa/	maudirons /mo.di.ʁɔ̃/	maudirez /mo.di.ʁe/	maudiront /mo.di.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	maudirais /mo.di.ʁɛ/	maudirais /mo.di.ʁɛ/	maudirait /mo.di.ʁɛ/	maudirions /mo.di.ʁjɔ̃/	maudiriez /mo.di.ʁje/	maudiraient /mo.di.ʁɛ/
(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	maudisse /mo.dis/	maudisses /mo.dis/	maudisse /mo.dis/	maudissions /mo.di.sjɔ̃/	maudissiez /mo.di.sje/	maudissent /mo.dis/
	imperfect2	maudisse /mo.dis/	maudisses /mo.dis/	maudît /mo.di/	maudissions /mo.di.sjɔ̃/	maudissiez /mo.di.sje/	maudissent /mo.dis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	maudis /mo.di/	—	maudissons /mo.di.sɔ̃/	maudissez /mo.di.se/	—
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).

See also

• bénir

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• maldire

Etymology

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin maledīcere, present active infinitive of maledīcō (“I slander, curse”). Compare the form maleir, which may have been inherited.

Verb

maudire

1. to curse

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		maudire			avoir maudiü
gerund		en maudiant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		maudiant
past participle		maudiü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	maudi	maudis	maudit	maudions	maudïez	maudïent
	imperfect	maudioie, maudïeie	maudioies, maudïeies	maudioit, maudïeit	maudiiiens, maudiiens	maudiiiez, maudiiez	maudioient, maudïeient
	preterite	maudis	maudisis	maudist	maudisimes	maudisistes	maudistrent
	future	maudirai	maudiras	maudira	maudirons	maudiroiz, maudireiz, maudirez	maudiront
	conditional	maudiroie, maudireie	maudiroies, maudireies	maudiroit, maudireit	maudiriiens, maudiriens	maudiriiez, maudiriez	maudiroient, maudireient
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	maudïe	maudïes	maudïe	maudions	maudïez	maudïent
	imperfect	maudisisse	maudisisses	maudisist	maudisissons, maudisissiens	maudisissoiz, maudisissez, maudisissiez	maudisissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	maudi	—	maudions	maudïez	—

Descendants

• French: maudire

See also

• mesparler
• beneïr