obliger
French, verb/ɔ.bli.ʒe/
obliger is spelled O-B-L-I-G-E-R (7 letters) and appears 9.8 times per million words in written French, the 6,801st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Obliger is a French verb meaning “to oblige, to require, to compel, to force” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Mettre quelqu’un dans l’obligation de faire ou de dire quelque chose”.
What does obliger mean in English?
verb
- 1
to oblige, to require, to compel, to force
- 2
(intransitive) to have to
Vous êtes obligé de payer la facture.
- 3
to help, to aid
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Mettre quelqu’un dans l’obligation de faire ou de dire quelque chose. 2. Lier quelqu’un par un contrat, par une promesse, contraindre à exécuter la chose à laquelle on s’est engagé. 3. Hypothéquer ou cautionner. 4. Contraindre, forcer ou mettre dans la nécessité de faire quelque chose.
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 obliger
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- obligeant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- obligé participle past
- oblige first-person indicative present
- obliges indicative present second-person
- obligeons first-person indicative plural
- obligez indicative plural present
- obligent indicative plural present
- obligeais first-person imperfect indicative
- obligeait imperfect indicative singular
- obligions first-person imperfect indicative
- obligiez imperfect indicative plural
- obligeaient imperfect indicative plural
- obligeai first-person historic indicative
- obligeas historic indicative past
- obligea historic indicative past
- obligeâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce obliger?
- /ɔ.bli.ʒe/
- \ɔ.bli.ʒe\
- \o.bli.ʒe\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to obliger
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is obliger in French?
obliger appears 9.8 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).