vouer

French

Etymology

From Old French voer, vuer, from Late Latin vōtāre, denominal from vōtum; hence equivalent to vœu +‎ -er. Doublet of voter (from English). Compare also Italian votare, Spanish and Portuguese votar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vwe/, /vu.e/
• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: vouai, voué, vouée, vouées, voués, vouez

Verb

vouer

1. to vow
2. (transitive) to devote (+ à to)
3. (reflexive) to devote oneself, to be devoted

Conjugation

Conjugation of vouer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	vouer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	vouant /vwɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		voué /vwe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	voue /vu/	voues /vu/	voue /vu/	vouons /vwɔ̃/	vouez /vwe/	vouent /vu/
	imperfect	vouais /vwɛ/	vouais /vwɛ/	vouait /vwɛ/	vouions /vu.jɔ̃/	vouiez /vu.je/	vouaient /vwɛ/
	past historic2	vouai /vwe/	vouas /vwa/	voua /vwa/	vouâmes /vwam/	vouâtes /vwat/	vouèrent /vwɛʁ/
	future	vouerai /vu.ʁe/	voueras /vu.ʁa/	vouera /vu.ʁa/	vouerons /vu.ʁɔ̃/	vouerez /vu.ʁe/	voueront /vu.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	vouerais /vu.ʁɛ/	vouerais /vu.ʁɛ/	vouerait /vu.ʁɛ/	vouerions /vu.ʁjɔ̃/	voueriez /vu.ʁje/	voueraient /vu.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	voue /vu/	voues /vu/	voue /vu/	vouions /vu.jɔ̃/	vouiez /vu.je/	vouent /vu/
	imperfect2	vouasse /vwas/	vouasses /vwas/	vouât /vwa/	vouassions /vwa.sjɔ̃/	vouassiez /vwa.sje/	vouassent /vwas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	voue /vu/	—	vouons /vwɔ̃/	vouez /vwe/	—
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

• ne pas savoir à quel saint se vouer
• vouer aux gémonies

Related terms

• dévouer

See also

• avouer (not related)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• ouvre, ouvré