couver

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cubāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku.ve/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: couvé, couvés, couvée, couvées, couvez, couvai
• Rhymes: -e

Verb

couver

1. to brood (an egg)
2. (figuratively) to coddle, pamper, mollycoddle
3. (figuratively) to plot, hatch, scheme

Conjugation

Conjugation of couver (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	couver
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	couvant /ku.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		couvé /ku.ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	couve /kuv/	couves /kuv/	couve /kuv/	couvons /ku.vɔ̃/	couvez /ku.ve/	couvent /kuv/
	imperfect	couvais /ku.vɛ/	couvais /ku.vɛ/	couvait /ku.vɛ/	couvions /ku.vjɔ̃/	couviez /ku.vje/	couvaient /ku.vɛ/
	past historic2	couvai /ku.ve/	couvas /ku.va/	couva /ku.va/	couvâmes /ku.vam/	couvâtes /ku.vat/	couvèrent /ku.vɛʁ/
	future	couverai /ku.vʁe/	couveras /ku.vʁa/	couvera /ku.vʁa/	couverons /ku.vʁɔ̃/	couverez /ku.vʁe/	couveront /ku.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	couverais /ku.vʁɛ/	couverais /ku.vʁɛ/	couverait /ku.vʁɛ/	couverions /ku.və.ʁjɔ̃/	couveriez /ku.və.ʁje/	couveraient /ku.vʁɛ/
(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	couve /kuv/	couves /kuv/	couve /kuv/	couvions /ku.vjɔ̃/	couviez /ku.vje/	couvent /kuv/
	imperfect2	couvasse /ku.vas/	couvasses /ku.vas/	couvât /ku.va/	couvassions /ku.va.sjɔ̃/	couvassiez /ku.va.sje/	couvassent /ku.vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	couve /kuv/	—	couvons /ku.vɔ̃/	couvez /ku.ve/	—
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).

Synonyms

• bichonner
• cajoler
• câliner
• chérir
• chouchouter
• choyer
• combler
• coucounner
• dorloter
• entourer
• gâter
• mignarder
• mignoter
• pouponner
• prendre soin de
• soigner
• s’occuper de

 

Derived terms

• couvade
• couvain
• couvaison
• couvée
• couver des yeux
• couver du regard
• couvet
• couveuse
• couvoir
• être comme une poule qui a couvé des œufs de cane
• surcouver

 

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• couvre, vource