gouverner
French, verb/ɡu.vɛʁ.ne/
gouverner is spelled G-O-U-V-E-R-N-E-R (9 letters) and appears 6.5 times per million words in written French, the 9,289th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gouverner is a French verb meaning “to govern” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Diriger une embarcation à l’aide d’un gouvernail”.
What does gouverner mean in English?
verb
- 1
to govern
- 2
to steer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Diriger une embarcation à l’aide d’un gouvernail. 2. Se dit de l’embarcation elle-même. 3. Conduire un moyen de transport. 4. Diriger la conduite de choses ou de personnes.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of gouverner
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- gouvernant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- gouverné participle past
- gouverne first-person indicative present
- gouvernes indicative present second-person
- gouvernons first-person indicative plural
- gouvernez indicative plural present
- gouvernent indicative plural present
- gouvernais first-person imperfect indicative
- gouvernait imperfect indicative singular
- gouvernions first-person imperfect indicative
- gouverniez imperfect indicative plural
- gouvernaient imperfect indicative plural
- gouvernai first-person historic indicative
- gouvernas historic indicative past
- gouverna historic indicative past
- gouvernâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce gouverner?
- /ɡu.vɛʁ.ne/
- \ɡu.vɛʁ.ne\
- [ɡu.vɛʁ.ne]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to gouverner
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is gouverner in French?
gouverner appears 6.5 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).