obliger

English

Etymology

From oblige +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈblaɪd͡ʒə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

obliger (plural obligers)

1. One who, or that which, obliges.
   • a. 1639, Henry Wotton, a letter to Edmund Bacon

     it is the natural property of the same heart, to be a gentle Interpreter, which is so noble an Obliger

References

• “obliger”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• oilberg

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French obliger, from Old French obligier, borrowed from Latin obligāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.bli.ʒe/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: obligé, obligeai

Verb

obliger

1. (transitive) to oblige, to require, to compel, to force [with direct object ‘someone’ and à (+ infinitive) ‘to do something’]

   Synonyms: contraindre, forcer

2. (passive voice) (intransitive) to have to [with de (+ infinitive) ‘do something’]

   Synonym: devoir

   Vous êtes ’obligé de payer la facture.

   You have to pay the bill.

3. (Louisiana) to help, to aid

   Synonym: aider

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written oblige- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Conjugation of obliger (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	obliger
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	obligeant /ɔ.bli.ʒɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		obligé /ɔ.bli.ʒe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	oblige /ɔ.bliʒ/	obliges /ɔ.bliʒ/	oblige /ɔ.bliʒ/	obligeons /ɔ.bli.ʒɔ̃/	obligez /ɔ.bli.ʒe/	obligent /ɔ.bliʒ/
	imperfect	obligeais /ɔ.bli.ʒɛ/	obligeais /ɔ.bli.ʒɛ/	obligeait /ɔ.bli.ʒɛ/	obligions /ɔ.bli.ʒjɔ̃/	obligiez /ɔ.bli.ʒje/	obligeaient /ɔ.bli.ʒɛ/
	past historic2	obligeai /ɔ.bli.ʒe/	obligeas /ɔ.bli.ʒa/	obligea /ɔ.bli.ʒa/	obligeâmes /ɔ.bli.ʒam/	obligeâtes /ɔ.bli.ʒat/	obligèrent /ɔ.bli.ʒɛʁ/
	future	obligerai /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁe/	obligeras /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁa/	obligera /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁa/	obligerons /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁɔ̃/	obligerez /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁe/	obligeront /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	obligerais /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁɛ/	obligerais /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁɛ/	obligerait /ɔ.bliʒ.ʁɛ/	obligerions /ɔ.bli.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/	obligeriez /ɔ.bli.ʒə.ʁje/	obligeraient /ɔ.bliʒ.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	oblige /ɔ.bliʒ/	obliges /ɔ.bliʒ/	oblige /ɔ.bliʒ/	obligions /ɔ.bli.ʒjɔ̃/	obligiez /ɔ.bli.ʒje/	obligent /ɔ.bliʒ/
	imperfect2	obligeasse /ɔ.bli.ʒas/	obligeasses /ɔ.bli.ʒas/	obligeât /ɔ.bli.ʒa/	obligeassions /ɔ.bli.ʒa.sjɔ̃/	obligeassiez /ɔ.bli.ʒa.sje/	obligeassent /ɔ.bli.ʒas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	oblige /ɔ.bliʒ/	—	obligeons /ɔ.bli.ʒɔ̃/	obligez /ɔ.bli.ʒe/	—
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

• noblesse oblige

Related terms

• obligation
  • obligataire / obligationnaire
• obligatoire
• obligatoirement
• désobliger

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

obliger

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of obligō

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French obligier, from Latin obligāre, present active infinitive of obligō.

Verb

obliger

1. (transitive) to oblige

Conjugation

• As parler except an extra e is inserted after the final g before a and o.
• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of obliger

infinitive	simple	obliger
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	obligeant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		obligé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	oblige	obliges	oblige	obligeons	obligez	obligent
	imperfect	obligeois, obligeoys	obligeois, obligeoys	obligeoit, obligeoyt	obligions, obligyons	obligiez, obligyez	obligeoient, obligeoyent
	past historic	obligea	obligeas	obligea	obligeasmes	obligeastes	obligerent
	future	obligerai, obligeray	obligeras	obligera	obligerons	obligerez	obligeront
	conditional	obligerois, obligeroys	obligerois, obligeroys	obligeroit, obligeroyt	obligerions, obligeryons	obligeriez, obligeryez	obligeroient, obligeroyent
(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	oblige	obliges	oblige	obligeons	obligez	obligent
	imperfect	obligeasse	obligeasses	obligeast	obligeassions	obligeassiez	obligeassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	oblige	—	obligeons	obligez	—
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).

Descendants

• French: obliger