croire

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French creire, croire, from Latin crēdere, from Proto-Italic *krezðō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱred dʰeh₁- (“to place one's heart, i.e. to trust, believe”), compound phrase of oblique case form of *ḱḗr (“heart”) and *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”).

See cognates in regional languages in France : Norman creire, Gallo craire, Picard croère, Bourguignon croire, Franco-Provençal crêre, Occitan creire or créser, Corsican credè.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁwaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

croire

1. (transitive) to believe (someone)

   Il jure qu’il dit la vérité. Je ne le crois pas.

   He swears that he's telling the truth. I do not believe him.

   Je crois que c’est vrai.

   I believe that it is true.

2. to believe, to accept as true [with à ‘something’]

   croire à quelque chose ― to believe in something

   Les français croient à l’amour.

   The French believe in love.

   Croyez-vous à l’existence de Dieu?

   Do you believe in the existence of God?

   Nous croyons à la venue du messie.

   We believe in the coming of the Messiah.

3. to believe, to have faith [with en ‘in’]

   croire en quelqu’un, en quelque chose ― to have faith in someone, in something

   Oui, je crois en Dieu.

   Yes, I believe in God.

   Je crois en toi.

   I have faith in you.

   Il ne croit qu’en soi.

   He only believes in himself.

   • 2013, Zaz, Je rentre:

     Je fais la promesse de ne plus croire en ce qui me ment / Ne plus me nier dans ma souffrance

     I promise to stop believing in things that deceive me / To no longer deny myself in my suffering

4. (reflexive, often followed by an adjective) to think of oneself as, to consider oneself

   Il se croit parfait.

   He thinks he's perfect.

Conjugation

Conjugation of croire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	croire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	croyant /kʁwa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cru /kʁy/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	crois /kʁwa/	crois /kʁwa/	croit /kʁwa/	croyons /kʁwa.jɔ̃/	croyez /kʁwa.je/	croient /kʁwa/
	imperfect	croyais /kʁwa.jɛ/	croyais /kʁwa.jɛ/	croyait /kʁwa.jɛ/	croyions /kʁwaj.jɔ̃/	croyiez /kʁwaj.je/	croyaient /kʁwa.jɛ/
	past historic2	crus /kʁy/	crus /kʁy/	crut /kʁy/	crûmes /kʁym/	crûtes /kʁyt/	crurent /kʁyʁ/
	future	croirai /kʁwa.ʁe/	croiras /kʁwa.ʁa/	croira /kʁwa.ʁa/	croirons /kʁwa.ʁɔ̃/	croirez /kʁwa.ʁe/	croiront /kʁwa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	croirais /kʁwa.ʁɛ/	croirais /kʁwa.ʁɛ/	croirait /kʁwa.ʁɛ/	croirions /kʁwa.ʁjɔ̃/	croiriez /kʁwa.ʁje/	croiraient /kʁwa.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	croie /kʁwa/	croies /kʁwa/	croie /kʁwa/	croyions /kʁwaj.jɔ̃/	croyiez /kʁwaj.je/	croient /kʁwa/
	imperfect2	crusse /kʁys/	crusses /kʁys/	crût /kʁy/	crussions /kʁy.sjɔ̃/	crussiez /kʁy.sje/	crussent /kʁys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	crois /kʁwa/	—	croyons /kʁwa.jɔ̃/	croyez /kʁwa.je/	—
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 en croire
• croire dur comme fer
• croire sur parole
• croyez-le ou non
• il faut le voir pour le croire
• ne pas croire si bien dire
• ne pas en croire ses oreilles
• ne pas en croire ses yeux
• que tu crois
• recroire
• se croire le premier moutardier du pape
• se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter
• tel est pris qui croyait prendre

 

Related terms

• croyance

Descendants

• Saint Dominican Creole French: crére
  • Haitian Creole: kwè

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• credre, creidre (archaic)
• craire, creire (northern)

Etymology

From Latin crēdere.

Pronunciation

• (archaic) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾei̯ðɾə/
• (classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾoi̯ɾə/, (northern) /ˈkɾei̯ɾə/

Verb

croire

1. to believe
2. (reflexive, se croire) to think oneself (to be)

   Se croire [estre] le rei - to think oneself to be the king

Conjugation

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

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		croire			avoir creü
gerund		en creant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		creant
past participle		creü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	croi	croiz	croit	creons	creez	croient
	imperfect	creoie, creeie	creoies, creeies	creoit, creeit	creïiens, creïens	creïiez, creïez	creoient, creeient
	preterite	crui, creï	creüs, creïs	crut, creï	creümes, creïmes	creüstes, creïstes	crurent, creïrent
	future	crerai	creras	crera	crerons	creroiz, crereiz, crerez	creront
	conditional	creroie, crereie	creroies, crereies	creroit, crereit	creriiens, creriens	creriiez, creriez	creroient, crereient
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	croie	croies	croie	creons	creez	croient
	imperfect	creüsse, creïsse	creüsses, creïsses	creüst, creïst	creüssons, creüssiens, creïssons, creïssiens	creüssoiz, creüssez, creüssiez, creïssoiz, creïssez, creïssiez	creüssent, creïssent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	croi	—	creons	creez	—

Descendants

• Bourguignon: croire
• French: croire
• Gallo: craire
• Norman: creire, craithe
• Picard: croère
• Walloon: croere

References

• “Appendix E: Irregular Verbs” in E. Einhorn (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 152

Romanian

Etymology

From croi +‎ -re.

Noun

croire f (plural croiri)

1. tailoring

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	croire	croirea		croiri	croirile
genitive-dative	croiri	croirii		croiri	croirilor
vocative	croire, croireo			croirilor

References

• croire in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN