veiller

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French veiller, veigler, from Old French veillier, veiller, from Vulgar Latin *viglāre, contracted from Latin vigilāre. Compare the borrowed doublet vigiler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛ.je/, /ve.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

veiller

1. (intransitive) to stay up, sit up
2. (intransitive) to keep guard, keep watch
3. (intransitive) to look after, see to ( + à); see to it that ( + à ce que)
4. (intransitive) to watch over (someone) ( + sur)
5. (transitive) to keep watch over a sick person at night; to do a death wake for
6. (intransitive, Quebec) to go out in the evening, e.g. in parties, clubs, bars…
7. (computing) to put in standby mode

Conjugation

Conjugation of veiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	veiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	veillant /vɛ.jɑ̃/ or /ve.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		veillé /vɛ.je/ or /ve.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	veille /vɛj/	veilles /vɛj/	veille /vɛj/	veillons /vɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ve.jɔ̃/	veillez /vɛ.je/ or /ve.je/	veillent /vɛj/
	imperfect	veillais /vɛ.jɛ/ or /ve.jɛ/	veillais /vɛ.jɛ/ or /ve.jɛ/	veillait /vɛ.jɛ/ or /ve.jɛ/	veillions /vɛj.jɔ̃/	veilliez /vɛj.je/	veillaient /vɛ.jɛ/ or /ve.jɛ/
	past historic2	veillai /vɛ.je/ or /ve.je/	veillas /vɛ.ja/ or /ve.ja/	veilla /vɛ.ja/ or /ve.ja/	veillâmes /vɛ.jam/ or /ve.jam/	veillâtes /vɛ.jat/ or /ve.jat/	veillèrent /vɛ.jɛʁ/ or /ve.jɛʁ/
	future	veillerai /vɛj.ʁe/	veilleras /vɛj.ʁa/	veillera /vɛj.ʁa/	veillerons /vɛj.ʁɔ̃/	veillerez /vɛj.ʁe/	veilleront /vɛj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	veillerais /vɛj.ʁɛ/	veillerais /vɛj.ʁɛ/	veillerait /vɛj.ʁɛ/	veillerions /vɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ve.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	veilleriez /vɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /ve.jə.ʁje/	veilleraient /vɛj.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	veille /vɛj/	veilles /vɛj/	veille /vɛj/	veillions /vɛj.jɔ̃/	veilliez /vɛj.je/	veillent /vɛj/
	imperfect2	veillasse /vɛ.jas/ or /ve.jas/	veillasses /vɛ.jas/ or /ve.jas/	veillât /vɛ.ja/ or /ve.ja/	veillassions /vɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /ve.ja.sjɔ̃/	veillassiez /vɛ.ja.sje/ or /ve.ja.sje/	veillassent /vɛ.jas/ or /ve.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	veille /vɛj/	—	veillons /vɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ve.jɔ̃/	veillez /vɛ.je/ or /ve.je/	—
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

• dorveille
• éveiller
• réveiller
• surveiller
• veille
• veiller au grain

 

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• vieller

Middle French

Alternative forms

• veigler

Etymology

From Old French veillier, from Latin vigilo, vigilare.

Verb

veiller

1. to be awake

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of veiller

infinitive	simple	veiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	veillant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		veillé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	veille	veilles	veille	veillons	veillez	veillent
	imperfect	veillois, veilloys	veillois, veilloys	veilloit, veilloyt	veillions, veillyons	veilliez, veillyez	veilloient, veilloyent
	past historic	veilla	veillas	veilla	veillasmes	veillastes	veillerent
	future	veillerai, veilleray	veilleras	veillera	veillerons	veillerez	veilleront
	conditional	veillerois, veilleroys	veillerois, veilleroys	veilleroit, veilleroyt	veillerions, veilleryons	veilleriez, veilleryez	veilleroient, veilleroyent
(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	veille	veilles	veille	veillons	veillez	veillent
	imperfect	veillasse	veillasses	veillast	veillassions	veillassiez	veillassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	veille	—	veillons	veillez	—
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: veiller