croire

French

Etymology

From Old French creire, croire, from Latin crēdere, present active infinitive of crēdō, from Proto-Italic *krezdō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱred dʰeh₁- (“to place one's heart, i.e. to trust, believe”), compound phrase of oblique case form of *ḱḗr (“heart”) and *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”).

See cognates in regional languages in France : Norman creire, Gallo craire, Picard croère, Bourguignon croire, Franco-Provençal crêre, Occitan creire or créser, Corsican credè.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /kʁwaʁ/
  • audio(file)

Verb

croire

  1. (transitive with à) to believe, to accept as true
  2. (transitive with en) to believe in, to have faith in
    Oui, je crois en Dieu. — Yes, I believe in God.
  3. (reflexive, often followed by an adjective) to think of oneself as, to consider oneself as
    Il se croit parfait. — He thinks he's perfect.

Conjugation
Conjugation of croire (see also Appendix:French verbs)
present participle croyant
/kʁwa.jɑ̃/
past participle cru
/kʁy/
infinitive
simple croire
compound avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple croyant
/kʁwa.jɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present crois
/kʁwa/		 crois
/kʁwa/		 croit
/kʁwa/		 croyons
/kʁwa.jɔ̃/		 croyez
/kʁwa.je/		 croient
/kʁwa/
imperfect croyais
/kʁwa.jɛ/		 croyais
/kʁwa.jɛ/		 croyait
/kʁwa.jɛ/		 croyions
/kʁwaj.jɔ̃/		 croyiez
/kʁwaj.je/		 croyaient
/kʁwa.jɛ/
past historic2 crus
/kʁy/		 crus
/kʁy/		 crut
/kʁy/		 crûmes
/kʁym/		 crûtes
/kʁyt/		 crurent
/kʁyʁ/
future croirai
/kʁwa.ʁe/		 croiras
/kʁwa.ʁa/		 croira
/kʁwa.ʁa/		 croirons
/kʁwa.ʁɔ̃/		 croirez
/kʁwa.ʁe/		 croiront
/kʁwa.ʁɔ̃/
conditional croirais
/kʁwa.ʁɛ/		 croirais
/kʁwa.ʁɛ/		 croirait
/kʁwa.ʁɛ/		 croirions
/kʁwa.ʁjɔ̃/		 croiriez
/kʁwa.ʁje/		 croiraient
/kʁwa.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 croie
/kʁwa/		 croies
/kʁwa/		 croie
/kʁwa/		 croyions
/kʁwaj.jɔ̃/		 croyiez
/kʁwaj.je/		 croient
/kʁwa/
imperfect2 crusse
/kʁys/		 crusses
/kʁys/		 crût
/kʁy/		 crussions
/kʁy.sjɔ̃/		 crussiez
/kʁy.sje/		 crussent
/kʁys/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — crois
/kʁwa/		 — croyons
/kʁwa.jɔ̃/		 croyez
/kʁwa.je/		 —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

Further reading

Old French

Alternative forms
  • craire (Anglo-Norman)
  • credre (9th and 10th centuries)
  • creire (Anglo-Norman or early Old French)

Etymology

From earlier creire, from very early Old French credre, from Latin crēdere, present active infinitive of crēdō.

Verb

croire

  1. to believe
  2. (reflexive, se croire) to think oneself (to be)
    Se croire li rois - to think oneself to be the king

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem croi distinct from the unstressed stem cre, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of croire (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
simple compound
infinitive croire avoir creü
gerund en creant Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle creant
past participle creü
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative jo tu il nos vos il
simple
tenses		 present croi croiz croit creons creez croient
imperfect creoie, creeie creoies, creeies creoit, creeit creïiens, creïens creïiez, creïez creoient, creeient
preterite crui, creï creüs, creïs crut, creï creümes, creïmes creüstes, creïstes crurent, creïrent
future crerai creras crera crerons creroiz, crereiz, crerez creront
conditional creroie, crereie creroies, crereies creroit, crereit creriiens, creriens creriiez, creriez creroient, crereient
compound
tenses		 present perfect Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
past anterior Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle
future perfect Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
conditional perfect Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive que jo que tu qu’il que nos que vos qu’il
simple
tenses		 present croie croies croie creons creez croient
imperfect creüsse, creïsse creüsses, creïsses creüst, creïst creüssons, creüssiens, creïssons, creïssiens creüssoiz, creüssez, creüssiez, creïssoiz, creïssez, creïssiez creüssent, creïssent
compound
tenses		 past Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative – tu – nos vos –
— croi — creons creez —

Descendants

References
  • “Appendix E: Irregular Verbs” in E. Einhorn (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 152
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