recouvrir

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.ku.vʁiʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

recouvrir

1. to cover again or completely
2. to cover up

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with recouvrer (“to recover”)

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like ouvrir and offrir. It is conjugated like a regular -er verb in the present and imperfect indicative, present subjunctive, imperative, and present participle; it is conjugated like a regular -ir verb in the infinitive, future indicative, conditional, past historic, and imperfect subjunctive; and its past participle recouvert is irregular.

Conjugation of recouvrir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	recouvrir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	recouvrant /ʁə.ku.vʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		recouvert /ʁə.ku.vɛʁ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	recouvre /ʁə.kuvʁ/	recouvres /ʁə.kuvʁ/	recouvre /ʁə.kuvʁ/	recouvrons /ʁə.ku.vʁɔ̃/	recouvrez /ʁə.ku.vʁe/	recouvrent /ʁə.kuvʁ/
	imperfect	recouvrais /ʁə.ku.vʁɛ/	recouvrais /ʁə.ku.vʁɛ/	recouvrait /ʁə.ku.vʁɛ/	recouvrions /ʁə.ku.vʁi.jɔ̃/	recouvriez /ʁə.ku.vʁi.je/	recouvraient /ʁə.ku.vʁɛ/
	past historic2	recouvris /ʁə.ku.vʁi/	recouvris /ʁə.ku.vʁi/	recouvrit /ʁə.ku.vʁi/	recouvrîmes /ʁə.ku.vʁim/	recouvrîtes /ʁə.ku.vʁit/	recouvrirent /ʁə.ku.vʁiʁ/
	future	recouvrirai /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁe/	recouvriras /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁa/	recouvrira /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁa/	recouvrirons /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁɔ̃/	recouvrirez /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁe/	recouvriront /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	recouvrirais /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁɛ/	recouvrirais /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁɛ/	recouvrirait /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁɛ/	recouvririons /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁjɔ̃/	recouvririez /ʁə.ku.vʁi.ʁje/	recouvriraient /ʁə.ku.vʁi.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	recouvre /ʁə.kuvʁ/	recouvres /ʁə.kuvʁ/	recouvre /ʁə.kuvʁ/	recouvrions /ʁə.ku.vʁi.jɔ̃/	recouvriez /ʁə.ku.vʁi.je/	recouvrent /ʁə.kuvʁ/
	imperfect2	recouvrisse /ʁə.ku.vʁis/	recouvrisses /ʁə.ku.vʁis/	recouvrît /ʁə.ku.vʁi/	recouvrissions /ʁə.ku.vʁi.sjɔ̃/	recouvrissiez /ʁə.ku.vʁi.sje/	recouvrissent /ʁə.ku.vʁis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	recouvre /ʁə.kuvʁ/	—	recouvrons /ʁə.ku.vʁɔ̃/	recouvrez /ʁə.ku.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).

Related terms

• couvrir
• découvrir

Further reading

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