Ouvrions

Ouvrions is a conjugated form of the French verb ouvrir, meaning "to open." It is the present subjunctive, first-person plural form, represented in full as que nous ouvrions, used in subordinate clauses to express possibility, necessity, doubt, desire, or emotion.

In French, the present subjunctive is used after certain expressions and conjunctions, often in more formal or literary style. Ouvrions appears in sentences such as: Il faut que nous ouvrions la porte (We must open the door). Bien que nous ouvrions le magasin plus tôt, nous ne pourrions pas… (Although we open the store earlier, we might not be able to…). Pourvu que nous ouvrions cette fenêtre, la pièce sera plus lumineuse. (Provided that we open this window, the room will be brighter.)

Morphology and related forms: ouvrir is an irregular -ir verb, and its present subjunctive forms include je ouvre, tu ouvres, il ouvre, nous ouvrions, vous ouvriez, ils ouvrent. Thus ouvrions corresponds to the nous form in the present subjunctive. The form is distinct from the indicative nous ouvrons (we open) and from other tenses of the verb.

Etymology: ouvrir derives from the Latin aperire, with French development through Old and Middle French, with the present subjunctive forms sharing standard -ions endings in the nous form.

Usage notes: Ouvrions is common in formal writing and literary contexts, as well as in careful speech. In everyday conversation, speakers often choose different phrasings or rely on other subjunctive or indicative constructions depending on register and regional variation.