surveiller

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French surveillier. By surface analysis, sur- +‎ veiller, corresponding to Latin super (“on top of”) + vigilō (“to watch”). Cognate with English surveil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syʁ.vɛ.je/, /syʁ.ve.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

surveiller

1. (espionage) to monitor, to survey, to watch

Conjugation

Conjugation of surveiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	surveiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	surveillant /syʁ.vɛ.jɑ̃/ or /syʁ.ve.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		surveillé /syʁ.vɛ.je/ or /syʁ.ve.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	surveille /syʁ.vɛj/	surveilles /syʁ.vɛj/	surveille /syʁ.vɛj/	surveillons /syʁ.vɛ.jɔ̃/ or /syʁ.ve.jɔ̃/	surveillez /syʁ.vɛ.je/ or /syʁ.ve.je/	surveillent /syʁ.vɛj/
	imperfect	surveillais /syʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /syʁ.ve.jɛ/	surveillais /syʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /syʁ.ve.jɛ/	surveillait /syʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /syʁ.ve.jɛ/	surveillions /syʁ.vɛj.jɔ̃/	surveilliez /syʁ.vɛj.je/	surveillaient /syʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /syʁ.ve.jɛ/
	past historic2	surveillai /syʁ.vɛ.je/ or /syʁ.ve.je/	surveillas /syʁ.vɛ.ja/ or /syʁ.ve.ja/	surveilla /syʁ.vɛ.ja/ or /syʁ.ve.ja/	surveillâmes /syʁ.vɛ.jam/ or /syʁ.ve.jam/	surveillâtes /syʁ.vɛ.jat/ or /syʁ.ve.jat/	surveillèrent /syʁ.vɛ.jɛʁ/ or /syʁ.ve.jɛʁ/
	future	surveillerai /syʁ.vɛj.ʁe/	surveilleras /syʁ.vɛj.ʁa/	surveillera /syʁ.vɛj.ʁa/	surveillerons /syʁ.vɛj.ʁɔ̃/	surveillerez /syʁ.vɛj.ʁe/	surveilleront /syʁ.vɛj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	surveillerais /syʁ.vɛj.ʁɛ/	surveillerais /syʁ.vɛj.ʁɛ/	surveillerait /syʁ.vɛj.ʁɛ/	surveillerions /syʁ.vɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /syʁ.ve.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	surveilleriez /syʁ.vɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /syʁ.ve.jə.ʁje/	surveilleraient /syʁ.vɛj.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	surveille /syʁ.vɛj/	surveilles /syʁ.vɛj/	surveille /syʁ.vɛj/	surveillions /syʁ.vɛj.jɔ̃/	surveilliez /syʁ.vɛj.je/	surveillent /syʁ.vɛj/
	imperfect2	surveillasse /syʁ.vɛ.jas/ or /syʁ.ve.jas/	surveillasses /syʁ.vɛ.jas/ or /syʁ.ve.jas/	surveillât /syʁ.vɛ.ja/ or /syʁ.ve.ja/	surveillassions /syʁ.vɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /syʁ.ve.ja.sjɔ̃/	surveillassiez /syʁ.vɛ.ja.sje/ or /syʁ.ve.ja.sje/	surveillassent /syʁ.vɛ.jas/ or /syʁ.ve.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	surveille /syʁ.vɛj/	—	surveillons /syʁ.vɛ.jɔ̃/ or /syʁ.ve.jɔ̃/	surveillez /syʁ.vɛ.je/ or /syʁ.ve.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

• devoir surveillé
• résidence surveillée
• surveiller comme le lait sur le feu

 

Related terms

• surveillance
• veiller
• éveiller
• réveiller

Further reading

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

Old French

Verb

surveiller

1. Alternative form of surveillier

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-eill, *-eills, *-eillt are modified to eil, euz, eut. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		surveiller			avoir surveillé
gerund		en surveillant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		surveillant
past participle		surveillé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	surveil	surveilles	surveille	surveillons	surveillez	surveillent
	imperfect	surveilloie, surveilleie, surveilloe, surveilleve	surveilloies, surveilleies, surveilloes, surveilleves	surveilloit, surveilleit, surveillot, surveilleve	surveilliiens, surveilliens	surveilliiez, surveilliez	surveilloient, surveilleient, surveilloent, surveillevent
	preterite	surveillai	surveillas	surveilla	surveillames	surveillastes	surveillerent
	future	surveillerai	surveilleras	surveillera	surveillerons	surveilleroiz, surveillereiz, surveillerez	surveilleront
	conditional	surveilleroie, surveillereie	surveilleroies, surveillereies	surveilleroit, surveillereit	surveilleriiens, surveilleriens	surveilleriiez, surveilleriez	surveilleroient, surveillereient
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	surveil	surveuz	surveut	surveillons	surveillez	surveillent
	imperfect	surveillasse	surveillasses	surveillast	surveillissons, surveillissiens	surveillissoiz, surveillissez, surveillissiez	surveillassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	surveille	—	surveillons	surveillez	—