Definify.com
Definition 2024
obéir
obéir
French
Verb
obéir
- (intransitive) To obey (a person)
- obéir à son patron.
- To obey one's boss.
- obéir à son patron.
- (intransitive) To obey, to follow (a rule or instruction)
- Obéir aux instructions.
- To obey the instructions.
- Obéir aux instructions.
Antonyms
Conjugation
This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.
Conjugation of obéir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | obéir | avoir obéi | |||||
| gerund | en obéissant | en ayant obéi | |||||
| present participle | obéissant /ɔ.be.i.sɑ̃/ |
||||||
| past participle | obéi /ɔ.be.i/ |
||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ |
obéis /ɔ.be.i/ |
obéit /ɔ.be.i/ |
obéissons /ɔ.be.i.sɔ̃/ |
obéissez /ɔ.be.i.se/ |
obéissent /ɔ.be.is/ |
| imperfect | obéissais /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ |
obéissais /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ |
obéissait /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ |
obéissions /ɔ.be.i.sjɔ̃/ |
obéissiez /ɔ.be.i.sje/ |
obéissaient /ɔ.be.i.sɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ |
obéis /ɔ.be.i/ |
obéit /ɔ.be.i/ |
obéîmes /ɔ.be.im/ |
obéîtes /ɔ.be.it/ |
obéirent /ɔ.be.iʁ/ |
|
| future | obéirai /ɔ.be.i.ʁe/ |
obéiras /ɔ.be.i.ʁa/ |
obéira /ɔ.be.i.ʁa/ |
obéirons /ɔ.be.i.ʁɔ̃/ |
obéirez /ɔ.be.i.ʁe/ |
obéiront /ɔ.be.i.ʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | obéirais /ɔ.be.i.ʁɛ/ |
obéirais /ɔ.be.i.ʁɛ/ |
obéirait /ɔ.be.i.ʁɛ/ |
obéirions /ɔ.be.i.ʁjɔ̃/ |
obéiriez /ɔ.be.i.ʁje/ |
obéiraient /ɔ.be.i.ʁɛ/ |
|
| 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 anterior1 | Use the past historic 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 je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | obéisse /ɔ.be.is/ |
obéisses /ɔ.be.is/ |
obéisse /ɔ.be.is/ |
obéissions /ɔ.be.i.sjɔ̃/ |
obéissiez /ɔ.be.i.sje/ |
obéissent /ɔ.be.is/ |
| imperfect1 |
obéisse /ɔ.be.is/ |
obéisses /ɔ.be.is/ |
obéît /ɔ.be.i/ |
obéissions /ɔ.be.i.sjɔ̃/ |
obéissiez /ɔ.be.i.sje/ |
obéissent /ɔ.be.is/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | obéis /ɔ.be.i/ |
— | obéissons /ɔ.be.i.sɔ̃/ |
obéissez /ɔ.be.i.se/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Usage notes
Obéir is followed by à if you wish to add an object.