ouvrer

French

Etymology

From Old French ovrer, Late Latin operō, operāre, from the deponent Classical Latin verb operor. Doublet of œuvrer (an analogical form created to avoid the confusion with ouvrir) and opérer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u.vʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ouvrer

1. (transitive, intransitive) to work

   Synonym: travailler

Conjugation

Conjugation of ouvrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ouvrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ouvrant /u.vʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ouvré /u.vʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvres /uvʁ/	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvrons /u.vʁɔ̃/	ouvrez /u.vʁe/	ouvrent /uvʁ/
	imperfect	ouvrais /u.vʁɛ/	ouvrais /u.vʁɛ/	ouvrait /u.vʁɛ/	ouvrions /u.vʁi.jɔ̃/	ouvriez /u.vʁi.je/	ouvraient /u.vʁɛ/
	past historic2	ouvrai /u.vʁe/	ouvras /u.vʁa/	ouvra /u.vʁa/	ouvrâmes /u.vʁam/	ouvrâtes /u.vʁat/	ouvrèrent /u.vʁɛʁ/
	future	ouvrerai /u.vʁə.ʁe/	ouvreras /u.vʁə.ʁa/	ouvrera /u.vʁə.ʁa/	ouvrerons /u.vʁə.ʁɔ̃/	ouvrerez /u.vʁə.ʁe/	ouvreront /u.vʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ouvrerais /u.vʁə.ʁɛ/	ouvrerais /u.vʁə.ʁɛ/	ouvrerait /u.vʁə.ʁɛ/	ouvrerions /u.vʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	ouvreriez /u.vʁə.ʁje/	ouvreraient /u.vʁə.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	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvres /uvʁ/	ouvre /uvʁ/	ouvrions /u.vʁi.jɔ̃/	ouvriez /u.vʁi.je/	ouvrent /uvʁ/
	imperfect2	ouvrasse /u.vʁas/	ouvrasses /u.vʁas/	ouvrât /u.vʁa/	ouvrassions /u.vʁa.sjɔ̃/	ouvrassiez /u.vʁa.sje/	ouvrassent /u.vʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ouvre /uvʁ/	—	ouvrons /u.vʁɔ̃/	ouvrez /u.vʁe/	—
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

• ouvrable
• ouvré
• ouvreur
• ouvrier

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• rouvre, verrou

Norman

Etymology

From Old French ovrer (“to work”), from Late Latin operō, operāre, from the deponent Classical Latin verb operor, operārī (“work, labor”), from opus (“work, accomplishment”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-os- (“work”), from the verbal root *h₃ep- (“to work”).

Verb

ouvrer

1. (Jersey) to knit