croiser

French

Etymology

From croix +‎ -er. Compare Spanish and Portuguese cruzar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁwa.ze/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

croiser

1. to cross, to put in the shape of a cross
2. to cross, to go across

   Croisez le chemin. ― Cross the path.

   • 1976, “Le France”, performed by Michel Sardou:

     J'étais un bateau gigantesque / Capable de croiser mille ans

     I was a gigantic ship / Able to cross a thousand years

3. (of two routes) to cross, to intersect
4. to cross, to crossbreed
5. to meet unexpectedly, to run into, to bump into

Conjugation

Conjugation of croiser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	croiser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	croisant /kʁwa.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		croisé /kʁwa.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	croise /kʁwaz/	croises /kʁwaz/	croise /kʁwaz/	croisons /kʁwa.zɔ̃/	croisez /kʁwa.ze/	croisent /kʁwaz/
	imperfect	croisais /kʁwa.zɛ/	croisais /kʁwa.zɛ/	croisait /kʁwa.zɛ/	croisions /kʁwa.zjɔ̃/	croisiez /kʁwa.zje/	croisaient /kʁwa.zɛ/
	past historic2	croisai /kʁwa.ze/	croisas /kʁwa.za/	croisa /kʁwa.za/	croisâmes /kʁwa.zam/	croisâtes /kʁwa.zat/	croisèrent /kʁwa.zɛʁ/
	future	croiserai /kʁwaz.ʁe/	croiseras /kʁwaz.ʁa/	croisera /kʁwaz.ʁa/	croiserons /kʁwaz.ʁɔ̃/	croiserez /kʁwaz.ʁe/	croiseront /kʁwaz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	croiserais /kʁwaz.ʁɛ/	croiserais /kʁwaz.ʁɛ/	croiserait /kʁwaz.ʁɛ/	croiserions /kʁwa.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	croiseriez /kʁwa.zə.ʁje/	croiseraient /kʁwaz.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	croise /kʁwaz/	croises /kʁwaz/	croise /kʁwaz/	croisions /kʁwa.zjɔ̃/	croisiez /kʁwa.zje/	croisent /kʁwaz/
	imperfect2	croisasse /kʁwa.zas/	croisasses /kʁwa.zas/	croisât /kʁwa.za/	croisassions /kʁwa.za.sjɔ̃/	croisassiez /kʁwa.za.sje/	croisassent /kʁwa.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	croise /kʁwaz/	—	croisons /kʁwa.zɔ̃/	croisez /kʁwa.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

• croisade
• croisement
• croiser le fer
• croiser les doigts
• croiseur
• entrecroiser
• feux croisés
• mots croisés
• rester les bras croisés
• se croiser les bras

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• sorcier