posséder
French edit
Etymology edit
From an alteration of an older Middle French possider, from Latin possidēre. Compare also the Old French forms porseoir, porseir, porsoier.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
posséder
- to own; to possess
- 1901, Anatole France, chapter XVII, in Monsieur Bergeret à Paris:
- Aucun riche ne possède plus que moi ce vieux chêne de Fontainebleau ou ce tableau du Louvre. Et ils sont plus à moi qu’au riche si je sais mieux en jouir.
- No rich man owns an old oak in the forest of Fontainebleau or a painting in the Louvre any more than I do. And they belong more to me than to the rich man if I know how to enjoy them better.
Conjugation edit
This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written posséder-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written possèder-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
| infinitive | simple | posséder | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | possédant /pɔ.se.dɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | possédé /pɔ.se.de/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | possède /pɔ.sɛd/ |
possèdes /pɔ.sɛd/ |
possède /pɔ.sɛd/ |
possédons /pɔ.se.dɔ̃/ |
possédez /pɔ.se.de/ |
possèdent /pɔ.sɛd/ |
| imperfect | possédais /pɔ.se.dɛ/ |
possédais /pɔ.se.dɛ/ |
possédait /pɔ.se.dɛ/ |
possédions /pɔ.se.djɔ̃/ |
possédiez /pɔ.se.dje/ |
possédaient /pɔ.se.dɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | possédai /pɔ.se.de/ |
possédas /pɔ.se.da/ |
posséda /pɔ.se.da/ |
possédâmes /pɔ.se.dam/ |
possédâtes /pɔ.se.dat/ |
possédèrent /pɔ.se.dɛʁ/ | |
| future | possèderai or posséderai /pɔ.sɛ.dʁe/ or /pɔ.se.dʁe/ |
possèderas or posséderas /pɔ.sɛ.dʁa/ or /pɔ.se.dʁa/ |
possèdera or possédera /pɔ.sɛ.dʁa/ or /pɔ.se.dʁa/ |
possèderons or posséderons /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɔ̃/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɔ̃/ |
possèderez or posséderez /pɔ.sɛ.dʁe/ or /pɔ.se.dʁe/ |
possèderont or posséderont /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɔ̃/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | possèderais or posséderais /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/ |
possèderais or posséderais /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/ |
possèderait or posséderait /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/ |
possèderions or posséderions /pɔ.sɛ.də.ʁjɔ̃/ or /pɔ.se.də.ʁjɔ̃/ |
possèderiez or posséderiez /pɔ.sɛ.də.ʁje/ or /pɔ.se.də.ʁje/ |
possèderaient or posséderaient /pɔ.sɛ.dʁɛ/ or /pɔ.se.dʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | possède /pɔ.sɛd/ |
possèdes /pɔ.sɛd/ |
possède /pɔ.sɛd/ |
possédions /pɔ.se.djɔ̃/ |
possédiez /pɔ.se.dje/ |
possèdent /pɔ.sɛd/ |
| imperfect2 | possédasse /pɔ.se.das/ |
possédasses /pɔ.se.das/ |
possédât /pɔ.se.da/ |
possédassions /pɔ.se.da.sjɔ̃/ |
possédassiez /pɔ.se.da.sje/ |
possédassent /pɔ.se.das/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | possède /pɔ.sɛd/ |
— | possédons /pɔ.se.dɔ̃/ |
possédez /pɔ.se.de/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “posséder”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.