sevrer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French sevrer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sēperāre, apophonic form of Latin sēparāre. Doublet of séparer, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə.vʁe/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

sevrer

1. to wean

   Sevrer son tout-petit, c'est grandir et devenir mère dans la réalité quotidienne.

   To wean your little one is to grow up and become a mother in everyday life.

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il sèvre and the third-person singular future indicative il sèvrera.

Conjugation of sevrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	sevrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	sevrant /sə.vʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		sevré /sə.vʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sèvre /sɛvʁ/	sèvres /sɛvʁ/	sèvre /sɛvʁ/	sevrons /sə.vʁɔ̃/	sevrez /sə.vʁe/	sèvrent /sɛvʁ/
	imperfect	sevrais /sə.vʁɛ/	sevrais /sə.vʁɛ/	sevrait /sə.vʁɛ/	sevrions /sə.vʁi.jɔ̃/	sevriez /sə.vʁi.je/	sevraient /sə.vʁɛ/
	past historic2	sevrai /sə.vʁe/	sevras /sə.vʁa/	sevra /sə.vʁa/	sevrâmes /sə.vʁam/	sevrâtes /sə.vʁat/	sevrèrent /sə.vʁɛʁ/
	future	sèvrerai /sɛ.vʁə.ʁe/ or /se.vʁə.ʁe/	sèvreras /sɛ.vʁə.ʁa/ or /se.vʁə.ʁa/	sèvrera /sɛ.vʁə.ʁa/ or /se.vʁə.ʁa/	sèvrerons /sɛ.vʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /se.vʁə.ʁɔ̃/	sèvrerez /sɛ.vʁə.ʁe/ or /se.vʁə.ʁe/	sèvreront /sɛ.vʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /se.vʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	sèvrerais /sɛ.vʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.vʁə.ʁɛ/	sèvrerais /sɛ.vʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.vʁə.ʁɛ/	sèvrerait /sɛ.vʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.vʁə.ʁɛ/	sèvrerions /sɛ.vʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /se.vʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	sèvreriez /sɛ.vʁə.ʁje/ or /se.vʁə.ʁje/	sèvreraient /sɛ.vʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.vʁə.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	sèvre /sɛvʁ/	sèvres /sɛvʁ/	sèvre /sɛvʁ/	sevrions /sə.vʁi.jɔ̃/	sevriez /sə.vʁi.je/	sèvrent /sɛvʁ/
	imperfect2	sevrasse /sə.vʁas/	sevrasses /sə.vʁas/	sevrât /sə.vʁa/	sevrassions /sə.vʁa.sjɔ̃/	sevrassiez /sə.vʁa.sje/	sevrassent /sə.vʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sèvre /sɛvʁ/	—	sevrons /sə.vʁɔ̃/	sevrez /sə.vʁe/	—
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

• sevrage

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *sēperāre, apophonic form of Latin sēparāre.

Verb

sevrer

1. to separate
   • c. 1150, Thomas d'Angleterre, Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, page 144, line 1632:

     que sun cors puise de mei sevrer

     that his body may be able to separate from me

2. to sever (to separate by cutting)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. In the present tense an extra supporting e is needed in the first-person singular indicative and throughout the singular subjunctive, and the third-person singular subjunctive ending -t is lost. This verb has a stressed present stem soivr distinct from the unstressed stem sevr. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		sevrer			avoir sevré
gerund		en sevrant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		sevrant
past participle		sevré
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	soivre	soivres	soivre	sevrons	sevrez	soivrent
	imperfect	sevroie, sevreie, sevroe, sevreve	sevroies, sevreies, sevroes, sevreves	sevroit, sevreit, sevrot, sevreve	sevriiens, sevriens	sevriiez, sevriez	sevroient, sevreient, sevroent, sevrevent
	preterite	sevrai	sevras	sevra	sevrames	sevrastes	sevrerent
	future	sevrerai	sevreras	sevrera	sevrerons	sevreroiz, sevrereiz, sevrerez	sevreront
	conditional	sevreroie, sevrereie	sevreroies, sevrereies	sevreroit, sevrereit	sevreriiens, sevreriens	sevreriiez, sevreriez	sevreroient, sevrereient
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	soivre	soivres	soivre	sevrons	sevrez	soivrent
	imperfect	sevrasse	sevrasses	sevrast	sevrissons, sevrissiens	sevrissoiz, sevrissez, sevrissiez	sevrassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	soivre	—	sevrons	sevrez	—

Related terms

• dessevrer
• sevrable
• sevraison
• sevrance
• sevrement

Descendants

• Bourguignon: sevrai
• French: sevrer
• → Middle English: severen
  • English: sever