Conjugate reflexive verb s'asseoir in Le Présent (present tense)

In: Level A1, Verbs Tenses & Conjugation, Présent indicatif, Verbe irrégulier, Verbes avec -OIR, Pronom réfléchi, Reflexive verbs
Questions: 15

S'asseoir (or s'assoir) is a peculiar verb in that it has two accepted conjugations in Le Présent. They are equally correct and mean exactly the same thing.

Here are both conjugations of S'ASSEOIR (to sit down) in Le Présent:

1st conjugation 2nd conjugation English
je m'assois je m'assieds I sit down / I'm sitting down
tu t'assois tu t'assieds you sit down / you're sitting down
il s'assoit il s'assied he/she/one sit down / he/she/one is sitting down
nous nous assoyons nous nous asseyons we sit down / we're sitting down
vous vous assoyez vous vous asseyez you sit down / you're sitting down
ils s'assoient ils s'asseyent they sit down / they're sitting down


Note that these two conjugations have different pronunciations:

Je m'assieds avec toi. 
Je m'assois avec toi.
I sit down with you.

Tu t'assieds discrètement. 
Tu t'assois discrètement.
You're sitting down quietly.

Elle s'assied avec Paul.  
Elle s'assoit avec Paul.
She's sitting with Paul.

Nous nous asseyons ici tous les jours.  
Nous nous assoyons ici tous les jours.
We sit here every day.

Vous vous asseyez avec nous ?  
Vous vous assoyez avec nous ?
Are you sitting with us?

Ils s'asseyent sur le banc.  
Ils s'assoient sur le banc.
They're sitting down on the bench.

Remember that to conjugate a reflexive verb in Le Présent, you need to agree the reflexive pronom se (infinitive: se laver, se raser...) with each person, as follows:

je me / m' 

tu te / t'

il, elle, on se / s'                          + verb conjugated in the right form

nous nous

vous vous

ils, elles se / s'

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Présent indicatif

Verbe irrégulier

Verbes avec -OIR

Pronom réfléchi

Reflexive verbs

Examples and resources

Elle s'assied avec Paul.  
Elle s'assoit avec Paul.
She's sitting with Paul.

Vous vous asseyez avec nous ?  
Vous vous assoyez avec nous ?
Are you sitting with us?

Je m'assieds avec toi. 
Je m'assois avec toi.
I sit down with you.

Ils s'asseyent sur le banc.  
Ils s'assoient sur le banc.
They're sitting down on the bench.

Tu t'assieds discrètement. 
Tu t'assois discrètement.
You're sitting down quietly.

Nous nous asseyons ici tous les jours.  
Nous nous assoyons ici tous les jours.
We sit here every day.

Q&A

Stuart

Kwiziq community member

20 September 2018

1 reply

Common Latin root?

Does the verb s'asseoir and the crude English word for one's posterior share a common root?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

21 September 2018

21/09/18

Hi Stuart,

No, they are from different roots.

Ass/arse in the meaning of slang for butt/behind, comes from the Latin asinus meaning donkey.

Asseoir derives from Latin assidere (to sit down).

Graham

Kwiziq community member

21 February 2018

1 reply

General question - How do you transfer a lesson from one notebook to another?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

22 February 2018

22/02/18

Hi Graham, I guess you would have to remove it from one notebook and add it in the other one. I don't know of a more direct way.

-- Chris.

Ron

Kwiziq community member

1 December 2017

3 replies

Please explain the reason for 2 different conjugations with this verb

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.

Chris

Kwiziq community member

4 December 2017

4/12/17

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. -- Chris.

Ron

Kwiziq community member

4 December 2017

4/12/17

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

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

5 March 2018

5/03/18

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!

 

jane

Kwiziq community member

13 October 2016

3 replies

Est-ce que je peux dire " Je m'assois mais tu t'assieds"?

Must one pick one way for an entire essay, or paragraph or sentence? Or can one mix them up freely?

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

14 October 2016

14/10/16

Bonjour Jane ! Well, I would say it's a bit weird to mix them up, especially because one is considered slightly more elegant (assieds) than the other (assois). It would be like mixing American and British spellings in the same essay: not a complete horror, but it would make your essay feel a bit inconsistent... I hope that answers your question! À bientôt !

jane

Kwiziq community member

15 October 2016

15/10/16

Merci!

jane

Kwiziq community member

15 October 2016

15/10/16

Merci!

Melody

Kwiziq community member

17 June 2016

2 replies

The table is labeled oppositely to another I have seen

http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/s%27asseoir.html The lists here are numbered oppositely to the link above (1st form 2nd form). The Figaro site says: La réforme de l'orthographe de 1990 autorise à écrire le verbe asseoir sous la forme assoir. I don't know the conventions of the figaro site- thus I don't know which form is the pre 1990 one, and which is post 1990. I don't know enough about verb conjugations to guess which is for s'asseoir and which is for s'assoir (same applies to this lesson). It would be helpful to give info here as to which is which. Kwiziq uses Connaître, which according to figaro is the pre-1990 version (as do other teaching sites I've seen). Same for figaro http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/connaitre.html It says however: La réforme de l'orthographe de 1990 autorise à écrire le verbe connaître sous la forme connaitre. By comparison with s'asseoir and s'assoir, there's hardly any difference in conjugation of connaitre vs connaître (circomflex).

Melody

Kwiziq community member

17 June 2016

17/06/16

continued By comparison with s'asseoir and s'assoir, there's hardly any difference in conjugation of connaitre vs connaître (circomflex), so it doesn’t present a challenge. This site gives some helpful information re: s'asseoir and s'assoir, but still doesn’t tell me which version is being conjugated. http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/sassoir-sasseoir.3075579/ As a general question, does Kwiziq mostly stick to pre-1990 orthography? It never would have occurred to me to ask before now. Any other insights would be welcome. btw, I as someone trying to learn French, I like the circomflex! Sometimes it indicates a “missing s” (in etymological terms), an “s” that persists in English.

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

20 June 2016

20/06/16

Bonjour Melody ! In the case of "s'asseoir" vs "s'assoir", it only affects the spelling of the infinitive, probably to make it match the 1st conjugation "je m'assois"etc As for the order of the conjugation, we reversed it thanks to your remark. We've also had a look at the "connaître" lesson, to reflect the case you mentioned. Merci et à bientôt !

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