English

Verb

tutoyer ‎(third-person singular simple present tutoyers, present participle tutoyering, simple past and past participle tutoyered)

1. (transitive) To address (someone) in French using the familiar second-person pronoun tu.
   • 1862, The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal (volume 115, page 132)

     As I had begged Goethe to tutoyer me, he sent me a message to say, I must really remain more than the two days I had named, otherwise he should never get into the way of doing so.

   • William Stamer, Recollections of a Life of Adventure

     […] Corporal Cornichon, walking straight up to the bar, "tutoyering" me all the time in the most horridly familiar manner, clapped me on the back, and asked me to take a glass of cognac with him.

Synonyms

• tutoy

French

Etymology

tu + (t) +‎ -oyer, compare the Icelandic þúa, German duzen and English thou. Cognate with Spanish tutear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ty.twa.je/

Verb

tutoyer

1. to address (someone) using tu, to thou
2. (colloquial) to be familiar with, to be close to something.

Conjugation

This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like noyer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the ‘y’ with an ‘i’ before a silent ‘e’.

Antonyms

• vouvoyer

Derived terms

• tutoiement

Related terms

• Spanish: tutear

See also

• Japanese: 呼び捨て ‎(よびすて, yobisute, “to call someone by their given or family name, without using さん or some other honorific”)