plaire

French

Etymology

From Middle French plaire, from Old French plaire, from plaisir, from Latin placēre, present active infinitive of placeō. The original infinitive now become a noun, and the infinitive ending was changed to -aire due to analogy with the future and conditional forms in plair-. The future stem came from Latin pluperfect stem placuer- (placueram, placuerās, ...); some other verbs also use the pluperfect stem for their future stems (but not in the case of pluperfect forms containing -s- or -x-), for example tenir, tiendrai (if using the infinitive form, it results on expected *tenirai < *tenī́re hábeō), see also Appendix:French verbs#Origins.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɛʁ/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

plaire

1. (intransitive) (followed by à or preceded by an indirect object) to please (usually translated into English as like with exchange of the subject and object)

   Cet homme me plaît ― I fancy that man (literally, “That man pleases me”)

   Cette robe me plaît ― I like this dress

2. (reflexive) to enjoy (oneself)

   Je me suis plu à Paris. ― I liked it in Paris.

Conjugation

plaire and its derived verbs conjugate like taire, except that the third person singular of the present indicative may take a circumflex on the 'i'.

Conjugation of plaire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	plaire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	plaisant /plɛ.zɑ̃/ or /ple.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		plu /ply/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	plais /plɛ/	plais /plɛ/	plaît or plait /plɛ/	plaisons /plɛ.zɔ̃/ or /ple.zɔ̃/	plaisez /plɛ.ze/ or /ple.ze/	plaisent /plɛz/
	imperfect	plaisais /plɛ.zɛ/ or /ple.zɛ/	plaisais /plɛ.zɛ/ or /ple.zɛ/	plaisait /plɛ.zɛ/ or /ple.zɛ/	plaisions /plɛ.zjɔ̃/ or /ple.zjɔ̃/	plaisiez /plɛ.zje/ or /ple.zje/	plaisaient /plɛ.zɛ/ or /ple.zɛ/
	past historic2	plus /ply/	plus /ply/	plut /ply/	plûmes /plym/	plûtes /plyt/	plurent /plyʁ/
	future	plairai /plɛ.ʁe/ or /ple.ʁe/	plairas /plɛ.ʁa/ or /ple.ʁa/	plaira /plɛ.ʁa/ or /ple.ʁa/	plairons /plɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ple.ʁɔ̃/	plairez /plɛ.ʁe/ or /ple.ʁe/	plairont /plɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ple.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	plairais /plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ple.ʁɛ/	plairais /plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ple.ʁɛ/	plairait /plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ple.ʁɛ/	plairions /plɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ple.ʁjɔ̃/	plairiez /plɛ.ʁje/ or /ple.ʁje/	plairaient /plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ple.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	plaise /plɛz/	plaises /plɛz/	plaise /plɛz/	plaisions /plɛ.zjɔ̃/ or /ple.zjɔ̃/	plaisiez /plɛ.zje/ or /ple.zje/	plaisent /plɛz/
	imperfect2	plusse /plys/	plusses /plys/	plût /ply/	plussions /ply.sjɔ̃/	plussiez /ply.sje/	plussent /plys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	plais /plɛ/	—	plaisons /plɛ.zɔ̃/ or /ple.zɔ̃/	plaisez /plɛ.ze/ or /ple.ze/	—
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

• à Dieu ne plaise
• plaisance
• plaisir
• s’il te plaît
• s’il vous plaît

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• palier, pareil, pilera, pliera, replia

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French plaire.

Verb

plaire

1. to please

Descendants

• French: plaire

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Occitan

Etymology

From a variant of Old Occitan plazer (probably reformed by analogy from conjugated forms; compare French plaire vs. plaisir, and Catalan plaure vs. plaer), from Latin placeō, placēre (“to please”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Languedocien):

  (file)

Verb

plaire (Languedoc)

1. to please

   Synonym: agradar

Dialectal variants

• plàser (Gascony)
• plàder (Gascony)
• har gai (Gascony)

Antonyms

• desplaire
• desagradar
• desplàser

Related terms

• plaser (“pleasure”)

Further reading

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 500.

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Old French

Verb

plaire

1. alternative infinitive of plaisir.

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of plaire (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		plaire			avoir pleü
gerund		en plaisant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		plaisant
past participle		pleü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	plaz, plais	plais	plaist	plaisons	plaisiez	plaisent
	imperfect	plaisoie, plaiseie	plaisoies, plaiseies	plaisoit, plaiseit	plaisiiens, plaisiens	plaisiiez, plaisiez	plaisoient, plaiseient
	preterite	ploi	pleüs	plot	pleümes	pleüstes	plorent
	future	plairai	plairas	plaira	plairons	plairoiz, plaireiz, plairez	plairont
	conditional	plairoie, plaireie	plairoies, plaireies	plairoit, plaireit	plairiiens, plairiens	plairiiez, plairiez	plairoient, plaireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	place, plaise	places, plaises	place, plaise	placiens, plaçons, plaisiens, plaisons	placiez, plaisiez	placent, plaisent
	imperfect	pleüsse	pleüsses	pleüst	pleüssons, pleüssiens	pleüssoiz, pleüssez, pleüssiez	pleüssent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	plais	—	plaisons	plaisiez	—