acquérir

See also: acquerir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French acquerir, from Old French acquerir, aquerre, from Vulgar Latin *acquaerere, from Latin quaerere. Cf. also quérir, conquérir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ke.ʁiʁ/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iʁ

Verb

acquérir

1. (transitive) to acquire, to obtain

   Synonym: obtenir

2. (transitive) to purchase

   Synonym: acheter

3. (reflexive, s'acquérir) to gain, to win (approval, etc.)

   Il s’est acquis quantité d’amis.

   He made many friends.

   Il s’est acquis les bonnes grâces de son supérieur.

   He earned the good graces of his superior.

Conjugation

Conjugation of acquérir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	acquérir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	acquérant /a.ke.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		acquis /a.ki/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	acquiers /a.kjɛʁ/	acquiers /a.kjɛʁ/	acquiert /a.kjɛʁ/	acquérons /a.ke.ʁɔ̃/	acquérez /a.ke.ʁe/	acquièrent /a.kjɛʁ/
	imperfect	acquérais /a.ke.ʁɛ/	acquérais /a.ke.ʁɛ/	acquérait /a.ke.ʁɛ/	acquérions /a.ke.ʁjɔ̃/	acquériez /a.ke.ʁje/	acquéraient /a.ke.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	acquis /a.ki/	acquis /a.ki/	acquit /a.ki/	acquîmes /a.kim/	acquîtes /a.kit/	acquirent /a.kiʁ/
	future	acquerrai /a.kɛ.ʁe/ or /a.ke.ʁe/	acquerras /a.kɛ.ʁa/ or /a.ke.ʁa/	acquerra /a.kɛ.ʁa/ or /a.ke.ʁa/	acquerrons /a.kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.ke.ʁɔ̃/	acquerrez /a.kɛ.ʁe/ or /a.ke.ʁe/	acquerront /a.kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /a.ke.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	acquerrais /a.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /a.ke.ʁɛ/	acquerrais /a.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /a.ke.ʁɛ/	acquerrait /a.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /a.ke.ʁɛ/	acquerrions /a.kɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.ke.ʁjɔ̃/	acquerriez /a.kɛ.ʁje/ or /a.ke.ʁje/	acquerraient /a.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /a.ke.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	acquière /a.kjɛʁ/	acquières /a.kjɛʁ/	acquière /a.kjɛʁ/	acquérions /a.ke.ʁjɔ̃/	acquériez /a.ke.ʁje/	acquièrent /a.kjɛʁ/
	imperfect2	acquisse /a.kis/	acquisses /a.kis/	acquît /a.ki/	acquissions /a.ki.sjɔ̃/	acquissiez /a.ki.sje/	acquissent /a.kis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	acquiers /a.kjɛʁ/	—	acquérons /a.ke.ʁɔ̃/	acquérez /a.ke.ʁe/	—
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).

Conjugation of s'acquérir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'acquérir
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’acquérant /sa.ke.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		acquis /a.ki/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’acquiers /ma.kjɛʁ/	t’acquiers /ta.kjɛʁ/	s’acquiert /sa.kjɛʁ/	nous acquérons /nu.z‿a.ke.ʁɔ̃/	vous acquérez /vu.z‿a.ke.ʁe/	s’acquièrent /sa.kjɛʁ/
	imperfect	m’acquérais /ma.ke.ʁɛ/	t’acquérais /ta.ke.ʁɛ/	s’acquérait /sa.ke.ʁɛ/	nous acquérions /nu.z‿a.ke.ʁjɔ̃/	vous acquériez /vu.z‿a.ke.ʁje/	s’acquéraient /sa.ke.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	m’acquis /ma.ki/	t’acquis /ta.ki/	s’acquit /sa.ki/	nous acquîmes /nu.z‿a.kim/	vous acquîtes /vu.z‿a.kit/	s’acquirent /sa.kiʁ/
	future	m’acquerrai /ma.kɛ.ʁe/ or /ma.ke.ʁe/	t’acquerras /ta.kɛ.ʁa/ or /ta.ke.ʁa/	s’acquerra /sa.kɛ.ʁa/ or /sa.ke.ʁa/	nous acquerrons /nu.z‿a.kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.ke.ʁɔ̃/	vous acquerrez /vu.z‿a.kɛ.ʁe/ or /vu.z‿a.ke.ʁe/	s’acquerront /sa.kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /sa.ke.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’acquerrais /ma.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ma.ke.ʁɛ/	t’acquerrais /ta.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ta.ke.ʁɛ/	s’acquerrait /sa.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sa.ke.ʁɛ/	nous acquerrions /nu.z‿a.kɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /nu.z‿a.ke.ʁjɔ̃/	vous acquerriez /vu.z‿a.kɛ.ʁje/ or /vu.z‿a.ke.ʁje/	s’acquerraient /sa.kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sa.ke.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’acquière /ma.kjɛʁ/	t’acquières /ta.kjɛʁ/	s’acquière /sa.kjɛʁ/	nous acquérions /nu.z‿a.ke.ʁjɔ̃/	vous acquériez /vu.z‿a.ke.ʁje/	s’acquièrent /sa.kjɛʁ/
	imperfect2	m’acquisse /ma.kis/	t’acquisses /ta.kis/	s’acquît /sa.ki/	nous acquissions /nu.z‿a.ki.sjɔ̃/	vous acquissiez /vu.z‿a.ki.sje/	s’acquissent /sa.kis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	acquiers-toi /a.kjɛʁ.twa/	—	acquérons-nous /a.ke.ʁɔ̃.nu/	acquérez-vous /a.ke.ʁe.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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

• acquéreur
• bien mal acquis ne profite jamais
• par acquit de conscience
• prendre pour acquis
• syndrome d’immunodéficience acquise
• tenir pour acquis

Related terms

• acquisitif
• acquisition
• acquêt

Further reading

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