esse

See also: Appendix:Variations of "esse"

Languages (23)

English

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Afrikaans • Alemannic German • Catalan • Central Franconian • Corsican • French • Gallurese • German • Hunsrik • Ingrian • Interlingua • Italian • Latin • Middle English • Neapolitan • Old Irish • Pennsylvania German • Piedmontese • Portuguese • Swedish • Tatar • Walloon

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Page categories

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin esse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛsi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

esse (plural esses)

1. Essence, essential nature.
   • 1788, Emanuel Swedenborg, The Wisdom of Angels Concerning Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, London: […] W. Chalklen, page 136:

     Hence it is that the Univerſe, which was created from his Eſſe, and which regarded as to Uſes is his Image, obtained theſe three in all and ſingular the Things appertaining to it.

   • 1801, Emanuel Swedenborg, Arcana Cœlestia: or, Heavenly Mysteries Contained in the Sacred Scriptures, or Word of the Lord, Manifested and Laid Open, volume X, London: […] J. Hodson, page 482:

     […] that is his proprium, since the esse of the life of man is his will;

   • 1824–68, A[braham] J[ones] Le Cras, The Theological Contrast: or, Error Exposed, and Truth Elucidated, Being an Investigation into All the Systems of Religion, Now Propagated in the Whole World, London: […] Thomas Goyder, pages 95–97:

     In like manner Christians treading closely on the heels of Jews, notwithstanding all the divine miracles, which accompanied their first establishment, iu^[sic] order to call them from the Deistical worship of a supreme esse, extended through all space, and to fix them in the exclusive acknowledgement of the one God in a divine human form, are equally guilty of idolatry, in worshipping Gods or persons, that have no real existence.

   • 1961, Gerard Smith, Lottie H. Kendzierski, Philosophy of Being, The Macmillan Company, page 339:

     Essence is a being by an esse which the essence is. Substance is a being by an esse which the substance is. Ens is a being by an esse which the ens is.

   • 2015, Christopher Hughes, Aquinas on Being, Goodness, and God, Routledge, page 62:

     Agreed, if there are as many esses in an individual as there are forms in that individual, then a plurality of substantial forms in an individual implies a plurality of substantial esses in that individual, just as a plurality of accidental forms in an individual implies a plurality of accidental esses in that individual.

Related terms

• agere sequitur esse
• commission de bene esse
• de bene esse
• in esse

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Esse”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume III (D–E), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 294.

Afrikaans

Noun

esse

1. plural of es

Alemannic German

Verb

esse

1. alternative form of ässe (“to eat”)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈe̞.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Central) [ˈe.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈe.se]

Noun

esse f (plural esses) (Valencia)

1. alternative form of essa

Further reading

• “esse” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• äße (most dialects)
• eaße (parts of Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

From Middle High German ezzen, from Old High German ezzan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛsə/

Verb

esse (third-person singular present iss or itt, preterite oß, past participle jesse or jejesse)

1. (Kölsch, nothernmost Ripuarian) to eat

Usage notes

• The second and third persons du itts, hä itt are attested for the formerly Low Franconian areas around Düsseldorf. These forms might now be obsolete.

Corsican

Alternative forms

• essa (Ultramontane)

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin essere, from Inherited from Latin esse. Compare Italian essere, French être.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈes.sɛ/
• Hyphenation: es‧se

Verb

esse (Cismontane)

1. (copulative) to be
2. (intransitive) to be (to exist)
3. (intransitive) to be (to occupy a place)
4. (auxiliary, + past participle) Forms the passive voice; to be
5. (auxiliary, + past participle) Forms the perfect aspect of some verbs; to have

Conjugation

    Cismontane conjugation of esse (highly irregular, suppletive)

infinitive			esse
present participle			issendu
past participle			statu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		eiu	tù	ellu/ella	noi	voi	elli/elle
	present	sò	sì	hè, ghjè	simu	site	sò
	imperfect	era	eri	era	eramu	erate	eranu
	simple past	fubbi, fui	fusti	fubbe, fù	fubbimu, fuimu	fuste	fubbenu
	future	seraghju	serai, serè	serà	seremu	serete	seranu
	conditional	seria, serebbi	serii, seresti, seristi	seria, serebbe	seriamu, serebbimu	seriate, sereste, seriste	serianu, serebbenu
subjunctive		eiu	tù	ellu/ella	noi	voi	elli/elle
	present	sia	sia	sia	siamu	siate	sianu
	imperfect	fussi	fussi	fussi	fussimu	fussite	fussinu
imperative		–	tù	–	noi	voi	–
		—	sia	—	siamu	siate	—

Descendants

• Gallurese: esse, essi

References

• “esse, essa” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Homophones: ace, aces, ès, esses

Noun

esse m (plural esses)

1. The name of the Latin script letter S/s.

Further reading

• “esse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Gallurese

Alternative forms

• essi

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin essere, from Latin esse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.se/

Verb

esse

1. (auxiliary) to be

Conjugation

    Conjugation of esse (highly irregular, suppletive)

infinitive	simple	esse
	compound	esse + past participle
gerund	simple	essendi, sendi
	compound	essendi + past participle
past participle		statu
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		eu	tu	iddu/idda	noi	voi	iddi
(simple tenses)	present	socu	sei	è	semu	seti	so
	imperfect	era, eru	eri	era	érami	érati	erani
	preterite	fusi	fusti	fusi	fùsimi	fùsiti	fùsini
	future	saragghju	sarai, saré	sarà	saremu	sareti	sarani
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of esse + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of esse + past participle
	preterite perfect	preterite indicative of esse + past participle
	future perfect	future of esse + past participle
conditional		eu	tu	iddu/idda	noi	voi	iddi
present		saria	saristi	saria	sarìami	sarìati	sarìani
perfect		present conditional of esse + past participle
subjunctive		chi eu	chi tu	chi iddu/idda	chi noi	chi voi	chi iddi
(simple tenses)	present	sia	sii	sia	sìami	sìati	sìani
	imperfect	fùssia	fussi	fùssia	fùssimi	fùssiti	fùssini
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of esse + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of esse + past participle
imperative		eu	tu	iddu/idda	noi	voi	iddi
		—	sii	sia	sìami	sìati	sìani

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Verb

esse

1. inflection of essen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• ëse (Wiesemann spelling system)

Etymology

From Middle High German ezzen, from Old High German ezzan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈesə/
• Rhymes: -esə
• Syllabification: es‧se
• Homophone: Esse

Verb

esse

1. to eat

   Ich esse keen Fleisch.

   I don't eat meat.

   Heit esse-mer Fisch.

   Today we eat fish.

Inflection

Conjugation of esse

infinitive	esse
past participle	gess
auxiliary	hon
	present tense
1st person singular	esse
2nd person singular	esst
3rd person singular	essd
1st person  plural	esse
2nd person plural	essd
3rd person plural	esse
	imperative
2nd person singular	ess
2nd person plural	essd

Derived terms

• mitesse

Further reading

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “esse”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch

Ingrian

Etymology

From estää (“to prevent”) +‎ -e. Akin to Finnish este.

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈesːe/, [ˈe̞s̠ː]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈesːe/, [ˈe̞ʃːe̞]
• Rhymes: -esː, -esːe
• Hyphenation: es‧se

Noun

esse

1. obstacle

Declension

Declension of esse (type 6/lähe, st-ss gradation)
	singular	plural
nominative	esse	esteet
genitive	esteen	estein
partitive	essettä	esteitä
illative	esteesse	esteisse
inessive	estees	esteis
elative	esteest	esteist
allative	esteelle	esteille
adessive	esteel	esteil
ablative	esteelt	esteilt
translative	esteeks	esteiks
essive	esteennä, esteen	esteinnä, estein
exessive1)	esteent	esteint
1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971), Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 36

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈe.se/, /ˈes.se/

Verb

esse

1. present of esser

   Synonym: es

2. imperative of esser

   Synonym: sia

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin es (the name of the letter S).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsse
• Hyphenation: ès‧se

Noun

esse f or m (invariable)

1. The name of the Latin script letter S/s.; ess

Derived terms

• esse lunga

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) lettera; a, bi, ci, di, e, effe, gi, acca, i, gei / i lunga, cappa, elle, emme, enne, o, pi, cu, erre, esse, ti, u, vu / vi, doppia vu, ics, ipsilon / i greca, zeta

Etymology 2

From Latin ipsae, from ipse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈes.se/
• Rhymes: -esse
• Hyphenation: és‧se

Pronoun

esse f pl

1. plural of ella and essa; they, them (female)

   Synonym: loro

See also

Italian personal pronouns (alternative)

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Locative	Genitive	Disjunctive
Singular	third	m	esso1, egli, elli3	si, s'	lo, l'	gli	vi, v'	ne, n'	esso, sé
		f	essa, ella, Ella2		la, l'	le			essa, sé
Plural	third	m	essi, eglino3, ellino3, elli3	si, s'	li	loro	vi, v'	ne, n'	essi, sé
		f	esse, elle3, elleno3		le				esse, elle3, sé
1	Refers predominantly to non-humans.
2	Highly elevated variant of Lei.
3	Archaic.

Anagrams

• sese

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɛs.sɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɛs.se]

Verb

esse

1. present active infinitive of sum

Noun

esse m (indeclinable) (Medieval Latin)

1. state, condition

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈeːs.sɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɛs.se]

Verb

ēsse

1. present active infinitive of edō

Participle

ēsse

1. vocative masculine singular of ēssus

References

• “esse”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "esse", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Middle English

Verb

esse

1. (Gloucestershire) alternative form of asken (“to ask”)

Neapolitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈessə/
• Homophone: éssa

Pronoun

ésse

1. plural of éssa (“she”)

Coordinate terms

Neapolitan personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	reflexive	possessive	prepositional
singular	first person		io	me			mìo, mìa, miéje, mèje	me, méne
	second person	familiar	tu	te			tùjo, tója, tuóje, tòje	te, téne
		formal	vuje	ve			vuósto, vòsta, vuóste, vòste	vuje
	third person	n	ésso	'o (lo)	lle	se	sùjo, sója, suóje, sòje	ésso
		m	ìsso	'o, 'u (lo, lu)	lle, lli			ìsso
		f	éssa	'a (la)	lle			éssa
plural	first person		nuje	nce			nuósto, nòsta, nuóste, nòste	nuje
	second person		vuje	ve			vuósto, vòsta, vuóste, vòste	vuje
	third person	n	éssa (llòro)	'a (la)	lle (llòro)	se	llòro (invariable)	éssa (llòro)
		m	ìsse (llòro)	'e, 'i (le, li)	lle, lli (llòro)			ìsse (llòro)
		f	ésse (llòro)	'e (le)	lle (llòro)			ésse (llòro)

Old Irish

Pronoun

esse

1. alternative form of essi: third-person singular feminine of a

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German ezzen, from Old High German ezzan, from Proto-West Germanic *etan. Compare German essen, Dutch eten, English eat, Swedish äta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛsə/

Verb

esse

1. to eat

Conjugation

Conjugation of esse

infinitive	esse
past participle	hot gesse
future tense	waerd esse
subjunctive	daet esse
	present tense
1st person singular	ess
2nd person singular	esscht
3rd person singular	esst
1st person  plural	esse
2nd person plural	esst
3rd person plural	esse
imperative	du ess, dihr esst

Piedmontese

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin essere, from Latin esse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈese/

Verb

esse

1. to be

Conjugation

infinitive	esse
present gerundive	essend
past participle	stàit

	Present indicative	Past indicative	Future indicative	Present subjunctive	Past subjunctive	Past Historic	Present Conditional
First-person singular	i son	i j'era	i sarai	i sia	i fussa	I fure	i sarìa
Second-person singular	it ses	it j'ere	it saras	it sie	it fusse	it fùrës	it sarìe
Third-person singular	a l'é	a l'era	a sarà	a sia	a fussa	fur	a sarìa
First-person plural	i soma	i j'ero	i saroma	i sio	i fusso	furo	i sarìo
Second-person plural	i seve	i j'ere	i sareve	i sie	i fusse	i fùrës	i sarìe
Third-person plural	a son	a j'ero	i saran	a sio	a fusso	a furo	a sarìo

Portuguese

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese esse, from Latin ipse (“himself”).

Alternative forms

• êsse (pre-reform spelling)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈe.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈe.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈe.se/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈe.sɨ/

• Audio (São Paulo):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: es‧se

Determiner

esse (feminine essa, masculine plural esses, feminine plural essas)

2. that (near you)

   Esse chapéu está limpo?

   Is that hat clean?

4. (Brazil, colloquial) this (near me)

   Synonym: este

   Esse livro é muito bom.

   This book is very good.

Pronoun

esse (feminine essa, masculine plural esses, feminine plural essas, neuter isso) (definite demonstrative pronoun)

2. that, that one (near you)
4. that (that one); this (this one) (indicates something already mentioned or understood from context)

   Esse é o segredo para vencer.

   This is the secret to winning.

Derived terms

• fazer esse

See also

Portuguese demonstratives

		pronouns					adverbs
		singular		plural		neuter
		masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
proximal	X	este	esta	estes	estas	isto	aqui, cá
	de + X	deste	desta	destes	destas	disto	daqui
	em + X	neste	nesta	nestes	nestas	nisto	—
medial	X	esse	essa	esses	essas	isso	aí
	de + X	desse	dessa	desses	dessas	disso	daí
	em + X	nesse	nessa	nesses	nessas	nisso	—
distal	X	aquele	aquela	aqueles	aquelas	aquilo	ali, lá, acolá
	de + X	daquele	daquela	daqueles	daquelas	daquilo	dali, dacolá
	em + X	naquele	naquela	naqueles	naquelas	naquilo	—
	a + X	àquele	àquela	àqueles	àquelas	àquilo
anaphoric	X	o	a	os	as	—	—
	de + X	do	da	dos	das
	em + X	no	na	nos	nas
	a + X	ao	à	aos	às

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.se/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.sɨ/

• Hyphenation: es‧se

Noun

esse m (plural esses)

1. The name of the Latin script letter S/s.
2. something shaped like the letter S

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) letra; á, bê, cê, dê, é, efe, gê / guê, agá, i, jota, cá / capa, ele, eme, ene, ó, pê, quê, erre, esse, tê, u, vê, dáblio, xis, ípsilon, zê

Further reading

• “esse”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “esse”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Swedish

Noun

esse n

1. only used in vara i sitt esse

References

• “esse”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “esse”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Tatar

Adjective

esse

1. hot

Walloon

Etymology

Inherited from Old French estre, from Early Medieval Latin essere, from Latin esse. Some conjugations reflect Latin stāre (“stand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs/
• Homophones: èç, ès

Verb

esse

1. to be

   Synonym: sey

Conjugation

   —         —   Conjugation of the verb esse in Walloon   —   Codjowaedje do viebe esse e walon

infinitive	simple	esse / sey
	compound	aveur + past participle
gerund	simple	estant
	compound	åyant + past participle
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		stî / stou		—
		plural		—		—
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		dji (dj')	ti (t')	i (il) / ele	dji (dj') / nos	vos	i (il)
(simple tenses)	present	so	es	est	estans	estoz	sont
	imperfect	esteu / î / ere	esteus / îs / eres	esteut / ît / ere	esténs	estîz	estént
	preterite	esta / fouri	estas / fouris	esta / fourit	estîs / fourîs	estîs / fourîz	estît / fourît
	future	serè	serès	serè	serans	seroz	seront
	conditional	sereu	sereus	sereut	seréns	serîz	serént
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of aveur + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of aveur + past participle
	past anterior	preterite indicative of aveur + past participle
	future perfect	future of aveur + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of aveur + past participle
subjunctive		ki dj'	ki t'	k' i (il) / k' ele	ki dj' / ki nos	ki vos	k' i (il)
(simple tenses)	present	soeye / fouxhe	soeyes / fouxhes	soeye / fouxhe	soeyanxhe / fouxhanxhe	soeyoxhe / fouxhoxhe	soeyexhe or fouxhnuxhe
	imperfect	estaxhe / fouxhe / fourixhe	estaxhes / fouxhes / fourixhes	estaxhe / fouxhe / fourixhe	estaxhénxhe / fouxhénxhe	estaxhîxhe / fouxhîxhe	estaxhénxhe / fouxhénxhe
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of aveur + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of aveur + past participle
imperative		–	ti	–	dji / nos	vos	–
simple		—	soeye! / fouxhe!	—	soeyans! / fouxhans!	soeyoz! / fouxhoz	—
compound		—	simple imperative of aveur + past participle	—	simple imperative of aveur + past participle	simple imperative of aveur + past participle	—
1 The Walloon gerund is usable only with the preposition tot (Eastern, Southern) or e (Central, Western).
2 The second person plural dji is used in Central and Southern dialects

Noun

esse m (plural esses)

1. The name of the Latin script letter S/s.
2. Something shaped like the letter S.