savoir

• sçavoir (obsolete)

From Old French savoir, saveir, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre (“to taste”) (and "to know" in Late Latin, by influence of the adjective sapiēns (“wise”)), present active infinitive of sapiō. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p- (“to try, to research”). The verb was for a long time spelled sçavoir from Middle French until the 18th century, by false regression to Classical Latin scīre "to know".

The forms of the verb with -ch- are a regular reflex of Latin -pi- (/-pj-/). Compare seiche, approcher, hache.

See cognates in regional languages in France : Angevin sçavouèr, Bourbonnais-Berrichon savoér, Bourguignon saivoi, Champenois saouâr, Franc-Comtois saivoi, Gallo savair, Lorrain sahoir, Norman saveî, Picard savoèr, Poitevin-Saintongeais saver, Tourangeau sçaveirĕ, Franco-Provençal savêr, Occitan saupre or saber, Catalan saber, Corsican sapè.

• IPA^(key): /sa.vwaʁ/

• audio

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• Rhymes: -waʁ

savoir

1. to know (something)

   Savais-tu qu'il parle si bien l'anglais?

   Did you know that he speaks English so well?

   Comment savait-il que j'étais là?

   How did he know that I was there?

   Il est difficile de savoir si elle ment.

   It's difficult to know if she's lying.

   Il tire cette approche en inventant une situation initiale, dans laquelle on interrogerait les individus sur la forme qu'ils voudraient d'une société sans qu'ils sachent quelle place ils y auraient.

   He derives this approach by inventing an initial situation, in which individuals would be questioned about the form they would like from a society without them knowing what place they would have in it.

   Difficile à savoir (expression; compare Difficile à dire, voir, faire)

2. to know how (to do something)

   Savez-vous nager?

   Do you know how to swim?

3. to be able to, to be apt to (especially in the negative conditional)
   • 2021, Zaz, Tout là-haut

     Si on s'en allait tout là-haut pour mieux s'imprégner des couleurs, saurions-nous faire taire notre égo ?

     If we went up there to better soak up the colours, would we be able to silence our ego?

   Il ne saurait tarder que...

   It cannot/will not be long before...

   «Il ne saurait être considéré comme un acte de résistance puisque le Hamas a cessé la résistance dans la bande de Gaza», a poursuivi M. Abbas.

   "It cannot be considered an act of resistance, as Hamas has ceased the resistance in the Gaza strip", continued Mr. Abbas.

   (Le Devoir, 3 September 2010)

4. to find out

   Nous devons savoir pourquoi il a fait ça.

   We have to find out why he did this.

• To translate "know" in the sense "to be acquainted with", the verb connaître is used.

• (to know): connaître, connaitre
• (to know how to): pouvoir

• Saint Dominican Creole French: savé

savoir m (plural savoirs)

1. knowledge

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

• avoirs

• saveir (early Old French or Anglo-Norman)
• savier (La Vie de Saint Léger, circa 980)

From Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō (“I taste”), later "I know".

savoir

1. to know
   • circa 1180,, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:

     Mes qui l’apele il ne le sot :
     Fantosme cuide que ce soit.

     But he did not know who was calling him
     He thought that it was a ghost

   • circa 1155, Wace, Le Roman de Brut:

     Et mult sot de chiens et d'oisiax

     And he knew much about dogs and about birds

2. to be skilled in

   molt bien savoit le latin

   he was very skilled in Latin

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

savoir m (oblique plural savoirs, nominative singular savoirs, nominative plural savoir)

1. knowledge
2. wisdom

• Middle French: sçavoir
  • French: savoir
• Walloon: saveur