Please explain the reason for 2 different conjugations with this verb

Question

I have noticed this peculiarity with s'asseoir as well as a couple of other verbs in French; however, I have never read or found an explanation for the reason this exists like such.

Accepted Answer

Hi both,
This is an interesting one! Indeed you will hear a mixture of both conjugations in spoken language but I think in the Imperative you might hear,
Assieds-toi, Asseyons-nous and Asseyez-vous
more than the other one.
Hope this helps!

Answer

Couldn't find an explicit reason either. Etymologically it is probably a coexisting older root with a newer version which developed in some other geographical region. But that's just a guess. It's funny but at least some French people tend to mix the two conjugations and use one (je m'assois) in the singular and the other (nous asseyons) in the plural.

Go figure.

-- Chris.

Answer

Merci, Chris, pour votre réponse.
Passez une bonne journée.