occuper

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French occuper, from Latin occupāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.ky.pe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

occuper

1. to occupy, to take up
2. to employ
3. (reflexive, s'occuper) to be busy, to keep oneself busy
4. (reflexive, s'occuper de quelqu'un, with de) to take care of, to tend to, to deal with someone

   Moi, je m’occupe des clients.

   Me, I'll take care of the clients.

Conjugation

Conjugation of occuper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	occuper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	occupant /ɔ.ky.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		occupé /ɔ.ky.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	occupe /ɔ.kyp/	occupes /ɔ.kyp/	occupe /ɔ.kyp/	occupons /ɔ.ky.pɔ̃/	occupez /ɔ.ky.pe/	occupent /ɔ.kyp/
	imperfect	occupais /ɔ.ky.pɛ/	occupais /ɔ.ky.pɛ/	occupait /ɔ.ky.pɛ/	occupions /ɔ.ky.pjɔ̃/	occupiez /ɔ.ky.pje/	occupaient /ɔ.ky.pɛ/
	past historic2	occupai /ɔ.ky.pe/	occupas /ɔ.ky.pa/	occupa /ɔ.ky.pa/	occupâmes /ɔ.ky.pam/	occupâtes /ɔ.ky.pat/	occupèrent /ɔ.ky.pɛʁ/
	future	occuperai /ɔ.ky.pʁe/	occuperas /ɔ.ky.pʁa/	occupera /ɔ.ky.pʁa/	occuperons /ɔ.ky.pʁɔ̃/	occuperez /ɔ.ky.pʁe/	occuperont /ɔ.ky.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	occuperais /ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/	occuperais /ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/	occuperait /ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/	occuperions /ɔ.ky.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	occuperiez /ɔ.ky.pə.ʁje/	occuperaient /ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/
(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	occupe /ɔ.kyp/	occupes /ɔ.kyp/	occupe /ɔ.kyp/	occupions /ɔ.ky.pjɔ̃/	occupiez /ɔ.ky.pje/	occupent /ɔ.kyp/
	imperfect2	occupasse /ɔ.ky.pas/	occupasses /ɔ.ky.pas/	occupât /ɔ.ky.pa/	occupassions /ɔ.ky.pa.sjɔ̃/	occupassiez /ɔ.ky.pa.sje/	occupassent /ɔ.ky.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	occupe /ɔ.kyp/	—	occupons /ɔ.ky.pɔ̃/	occupez /ɔ.ky.pe/	—
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).

Conjugation of s'occuper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'occuper
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’occupant /sə ɔ.ky.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		occupé /ɔ.ky.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’occupe /mə ɔ.kyp/	t’occupes /tə ɔ.kyp/	s’occupe /sə ɔ.kyp/	nous occupons /nu ɔ.ky.pɔ̃/	vous occupez /vu ɔ.ky.pe/	s’occupent /sə ɔ.kyp/
	imperfect	m’occupais /mə ɔ.ky.pɛ/	t’occupais /tə ɔ.ky.pɛ/	s’occupait /sə ɔ.ky.pɛ/	nous occupions /nu ɔ.ky.pjɔ̃/	vous occupiez /vu ɔ.ky.pje/	s’occupaient /sə ɔ.ky.pɛ/
	past historic2	m’occupai /mə ɔ.ky.pe/	t’occupas /tə ɔ.ky.pa/	s’occupa /sə ɔ.ky.pa/	nous occupâmes /nu ɔ.ky.pam/	vous occupâtes /vu ɔ.ky.pat/	s’occupèrent /sə ɔ.ky.pɛʁ/
	future	m’occuperai /mə ɔ.ky.pʁe/	t’occuperas /tə ɔ.ky.pʁa/	s’occupera /sə ɔ.ky.pʁa/	nous occuperons /nu ɔ.ky.pʁɔ̃/	vous occuperez /vu ɔ.ky.pʁe/	s’occuperont /sə ɔ.ky.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’occuperais /mə ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/	t’occuperais /tə ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/	s’occuperait /sə ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/	nous occuperions /nu ɔ.ky.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous occuperiez /vu ɔ.ky.pə.ʁje/	s’occuperaient /sə ɔ.ky.pʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’occupe /mə ɔ.kyp/	t’occupes /tə ɔ.kyp/	s’occupe /sə ɔ.kyp/	nous occupions /nu ɔ.ky.pjɔ̃/	vous occupiez /vu ɔ.ky.pje/	s’occupent /sə ɔ.kyp/
	imperfect2	m’occupasse /mə ɔ.ky.pas/	t’occupasses /tə ɔ.ky.pas/	s’occupât /sə ɔ.ky.pa/	nous occupassions /nu ɔ.ky.pa.sjɔ̃/	vous occupassiez /vu ɔ.ky.pa.sje/	s’occupassent /sə ɔ.ky.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	occupe-toi /ɔ.kyp.twa/	—	occupons-nous /ɔ.ky.pɔ̃.nu/	occupez-vous /ɔ.ky.pe.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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

• occupé
• occuper après
• s’occuper de

 

Related terms

• occupation

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

occuper

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of occupō

Middle French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin occupō.

Verb

occuper

1. to occupy (to retain or to remain 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 occuper

infinitive	simple	occuper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	occupant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		occupé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	occupe	occupes	occupe	occupons	occupez	occupent
	imperfect	occupois, occupoys	occupois, occupoys	occupoit, occupoyt	occupions, occupyons	occupiez, occupyez	occupoient, occupoyent
	past historic	occupa	occupas	occupa	occupasmes	occupastes	occuperent
	future	occuperai, occuperay	occuperas	occupera	occuperons	occuperez	occuperont
	conditional	occuperois, occuperoys	occuperois, occuperoys	occuperoit, occuperoyt	occuperions, occuperyons	occuperiez, occuperyez	occuperoient, occuperoyent
(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	occupe	occupes	occupe	occupons	occupez	occupent
	imperfect	occupasse	occupasses	occupast	occupassions	occupassiez	occupassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	occupe	—	occupons	occupez	—
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).