Couvr

Couvr is the stem or morpheme used in French to form the verb couvrir, meaning to cover. It is not a standalone word in common usage, but it appears as the base in the verb’s conjugation and in several related forms.

Conjugation and usage: The verb couvrir is irregular in some tenses, but the core stem that carries the present and imperfect endings is often written as couvr- in linguistic descriptions. Presentive forms illustrate the stem: je couvre, tu couvres, il couvre, nous couvrons, vous couvrez, ils couvrent. The imperfect is formed with the same stem, yielding je couvrais, tu couvrais, il couvreait, nous couvrions, vous couvriez, ils couvraient. The passé simple (literary past) forms include je couvris, tu couvris, il couvrit, nous couvrîmes, vous couvrîtes, ils couvrèrent. The future uses the same base: je couvrirai, tu couvriras, il couvrira, nous couvrirons, vous couvrirez, ils couvriront. The past participle is couvert; the present participle is couvrant.

Derivatives and related verbs: Prefixal compounds such as recouvrir (to cover again) and découvrir (to discover) share the same root family, showing how the base supports derived forms.

Etymology and scope: Couvr- derives from Old French couvrir, from Latin co-operire (to cover). In dictionaries and linguistic works, couvr- is discussed as a stem rather than a separate lexeme.