S'asseoir / S'assoir: Full Verb Reference

S'asseoir is the everyday verb meaning to sit down. It is grammatically reflexive in French because sitting is conceived as an action one does to oneself — you are both the one doing the seating and the one being seated. English collapses this into a single intransitive verb (sit down), which is why English speakers often forget the reflexive pronoun and produce ungrammatical je suis assis when they mean je m'assieds.

This verb is also a curiosity: it has two completely valid present-tense paradigms in modern French. You can say je m'assieds (older, more formal) or je m'assois (newer, equally accepted). Both are taught, both are spoken, and dictionaries list them side by side. The 1990 spelling reform additionally permitted the variant infinitive s'assoir (without the e) — but the reform did not standardize the conjugation. So you have, in principle, four ways to write the same verb in modern French. This page covers both paradigms in full and tells you when to use which.

The spelling question: asseoir vs assoir

The infinitive can be spelled two ways:

• asseoir — traditional spelling, still dominant in use
• assoir — 1990 spelling reform, accepted but less common

Both are correct in modern French. Asseoir is the form you'll see in 95% of texts — newspapers, novels, classic dictionaries — and is the form most Francophones write by default. Assoir appears in school textbooks aligned with the 1990 reform and in some publishing houses' style guides. Choose one and stick with it; either is defensible.

The reform did not similarly simplify the conjugation. Both -ie- and -oi- paradigms remain valid regardless of which infinitive spelling you use.

Présent de l'indicatif: two valid paradigms

This is the heart of the verb's irregularity. French has preserved two competing paradigms from older stages of the language, and modern usage tolerates both. Pick one and be consistent within a sentence; mixing them sounds wrong.

Pattern 1: -ie- / -ey- (formal, more frequent in writing)

Note: the singular forms end in -ds / -ds / -d — no -s or -t ending; this is one of the few French verbs that takes a -d in the third-person singular (compare prendre → il prend).

Pattern 2: -oi- / -oy- (more conversational, gaining ground)

The -oi- paradigm is widely felt as the more colloquial one and is increasingly common in everyday spoken French — though both remain fully grammatical.

Imparfait: two paradigms

Pattern 1 (-ey-)

Pattern 2 (-oy-)

Futur simple

The futur takes the stem assiér- (Pattern 1) or assoir- (Pattern 2). Both are used; the -oir- stem is gaining ground.

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

Conditionnel présent

Same stems as the futur, with imparfait endings.

• Pattern 1: je m'assiérais, tu t'assiérais, il s'assiérait, nous nous assiérions, vous vous assiériez, ils s'assiéraient
• Pattern 2: je m'assoirais, tu t'assoirais, il s'assoirait, nous nous assoirions, vous vous assoiriez, ils s'assoiraient

Subjonctif présent

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

Impératif

Two valid forms — used constantly in everyday French to invite someone to sit.

In real-world usage, assieds-toi and asseyez-vous are by far the most common. Assois-toi and assoyez-vous are correct but encountered less often, especially in service contexts.

Compound tenses

Pronominal, so the auxiliary is always être. The past participle is assis (masculine) / assise (feminine), and it agrees with the subject in the standard maison-d'être pattern.

Passé composé

The past participle assis(e) is unique to this verb (and a couple of derivatives like rasseoir) — there is no overall pattern that predicts it. Memorize it.

S'asseoir vs être assis: action vs state

This is the distinction English speakers most often miss. French strictly separates the action of sitting down from the state of being seated.

• s'asseoir — to sit down (the act of changing from standing to seated)
• être assis — to be sitting / to be seated (the resulting state)

In English, "I'm sitting" can mean either. In French, you must choose. S'asseoir is the action; être assis is the state.

A useful test: if you can replace English "sitting" with "seated," you want être assis. If you can replace it with "sitting down," you want s'asseoir.

The same logic governs French's split between se coucher (lie down) and être couché (be lying down), and se lever (stand up) and être debout (be standing).

High-frequency expressions

• asseyez-vous, je vous en prie — please have a seat (polite, daily)
• assieds-toi ! — sit down! (informal command)
• s'asseoir à table — to sit down at the table (often = to come eat)
• faire asseoir quelqu'un — to seat someone, to invite someone to sit
• rester assis — to stay seated
• se rasseoir — to sit back down

Comparison with English

Three friction points.

1. English "sit down" is intransitive; French s'asseoir is reflexive. You cannot drop the me/te/se. Je m'assieds, never j'assieds. Without the reflexive, asseoir exists but means "to seat someone" (transitive) — elle a assis le bébé sur la chaise haute — "she sat the baby in the high chair."

2. The same English word "sitting" splits into two French constructions. I'm sitting down = je m'assieds (action). I'm sitting = je suis assis (state). Forgetting this distinction produces sentences that sound off to French speakers.

3. Both paradigms are correct. English doesn't have a comparable split. If a textbook teaches one paradigm, you may still encounter the other in books, films, and conversation. Learn to recognize both, then pick the one you prefer for active use. Asseyez-vous is the safer formal choice; assoyez-vous sounds slightly less polished to some ears but is grammatically equivalent.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Dropping the reflexive pronoun.

Mistake 2: Using s'asseoir for the state of being seated.

Mistake 3: Mixing the two paradigms within one verb form.

Mistake 4: Wrong past participle.

Mistake 5: Forgetting subject agreement on the participle.

Key takeaways

S'asseoir is the verb to sit down. It is reflexive — you cannot drop the me/te/se. It has two valid present paradigms, the -ie-/-ey- pattern (formal, frequent in writing) and the -oi-/-oy- pattern (more conversational); both are universally accepted, and learners can choose either one. The 1990 spelling reform additionally permits the infinitive assoir (without the e), but asseoir remains the dominant spelling.

The past participle assis (m) / assise (f) is irregular and unique to this verb. Compound tenses use être as auxiliary, and the participle agrees with the subject. The imperative forms asseyez-vous, assieds-toi (or assoyez-vous, assois-toi) are everyday speech.

Distinguish s'asseoir (action of sitting down) from être assis (state of being seated). The first describes the moment of changing posture; the second describes the resulting state. Mixing them up is the most frequent learner error.

When in doubt, use Pattern 1 (je m'assieds) for formal contexts and asseyez-vous for inviting someone to sit. Both patterns are correct French; consistency within a sentence is what matters.