This article contains affiliate links. This means French Together may earn a commission for purchases made through these links. Read our full affiliate disclosure.
Recevoir means “to receive” in French. But like many commonly used verbs, it has a few different shades of meaning.
Let’s learn more about recevoir!
Recevoir conjugation
Recevoir is an irregular verb, which means you’ll have to memorize its conjugations.
Because the “c” in recevoir must always sound like an “s”, you will need to add a cedilla whenever it’s followed by a letter that isn’t “i” or “e”.
A small consolation is that recevoir is conjugated with avoir in compound tenses, so you don’t have to agree the participle and the subject in a standard sentence.
Here’s how to conjugate recevoir in the most common French verb tenses:
| Present simple | Passé Composé | Imparfait |
| je reçois | j’ai reçu | je recevais |
| tu reçois | tu as reçu | tu recevais |
| il/elle/on reçoit | il/elle/on a reçu | il/elle/on recevait |
| nous recevons | nous avons reçu | nous recevions |
| vous recevez | vous avez reçu | vous receviez |
| ils/elles reçoivent | ils/elles ont reçu | ils/elles recevaient |
| Future | Conditional | Subjunctive |
| je recevrai | je recevrais | que je reçoive |
| tu recevras | tu recevrais | que tu reçoives |
| il/elle/on recevra | il/elle/on recevrait | qu’ il/elle/on reçoive |
| nous recevrons | nous recevrions | que nous recevions |
| vous recevrez | vous recevriez | que vous receviez |
| ils/elles recevront | ils/elles recevraient | qu’ils/elles reçoivent |
| Imperative |
| Reçois (tu) |
| Recevons (nous) |
| Recevez (vous) |
Less common recevoir conjugations
Here’s how to conjugate recevoir in tenses you’ll see and use less often.
| Plus-que-parfait | Passé simple | Passé antérieur |
| j’avais reçu | je reçus | j’eus reçu |
| tu avais reçu | tu reçus | tu eus reçu |
| il/elle/on avait reçu | il/elle/on reçut | il/elle/on eut reçu |
| nous avions reçu | nous reçûmes | nous eûmes reçu |
| vous aviez reçu | vous reçûtes | vous eûtes reçu |
| ils/elles avaient reçu | ils/elles reçurent | ils/elles eurent reçu |
| Futur antérieur | Futur proche |
| j’aurai reçu | je vais recevoir |
| tu auras reçu | tu vas recevoir |
| il/elle/on aura reçu | il/elle/on va recevoir |
| nous aurons reçu | nous allons recevoir |
| vous aurez reçu | vous allez recevoir |
| ils/elles auront reçu | ils/elles vont recevoir |
| Conditionnel du passé |
| je aurais reçu |
| tu aurais reçu |
| il/elle/on aurait reçu |
| nous aurions reçu |
| vous auriez reçu |
| ils/elles auraient reçu |
| Passé du subjonctif | Imparfait du subjonctif | Plus-que-parfait du subjonctif |
| j’aie reçu | je reçusse | je eusse reçu |
| tu aies reçu | tu reçusses | tu eusses reçu |
| il/elle/on ait reçu | il/elle/on reçut | il/elle/on eût reçu |
| nous ayons reçu | nous ayons reçussions | nous eussions reçu |
| vous ayez reçu | vous ayez reçussiez | vous eussiez reçu |
| ils/elles aient reçu | ils/elles reçussent | ils/elles eussent reçu |
What does recevoir mean?
Recevoir means “to receive” or “to get”.
For instance:
Il a reçu un super cadeau pour son anniversaire. (He got an awesome present for his birthday.)
Vous recevrez le colis d’ici la fin de la semaine. (You’ll receive the package sometime between now and the end of the week.)
Les membres des Boy Bands reçoivent des milliers de messages de leurs fans chaque jour. (Members of Boy Bands receive thousands of messages from their fans every day.)
But, as in English, this seemingly straightforward word has some subtle shades of meaning.
For example, recevoir can sometimes be used in a formal sense to mean “to receive (i.e. welcome/host) guests/clients”.
For instance:
Ils reçoivent souvent des invités. (They often receive (welcome/host) guests.)
Le docteur Dupont ne reçoit pas aujourd’hui. (Dr. Dupont isn’t seeing patients today.)
Another way recevoir can be used, as in English, is how someone takes news or an idea. For instance:
Sa critique a été mal reçue par le groupe. (Her critique was taken badly by the group.)
Note that this usage is rarer in French than it is in English.
Still another shade of meaning for recevoir is “to take a hit” or be on the receiving end of a violent act. This makes sense in a way and could even be understood in English. “I received a punch to the stomach” wouldn’t be the ordinary, everyday sentence you’d use, but it’s still understandable. In French, it’s common to say something like:
Il a reçu un coup de poing (He took a punch/He got punched/He got a punch/He was punched).
La victime a reçu dix coups de couteau. (The victim was stabbed ten times. (Literally: The victim received ten knife wounds.)
A very specific use of recevoir is in radio communications, including walkie-talkies. If you watch French action or spy films, you’ll probably come across these two phrases:
Bien reçu – Copy that
recevoir quelqu’un 5 sur 5: Five by five (to hear someone loud and clear) – Je te reçois 5 sur 5.
These are the most common meanings and uses of recevoir, but you can find a few more, as well as additional examples and explanations, in Wiktionnaire’s excellent recevoir entry.
The more you read and listen to French, the more comfortable you’ll become with recevoir’s different shades of meaning. And if one of them doesn’t sit right with you, there are usually other ways to express the same idea. For instance, while I would understand the phrase Le docteur Dupont ne reçoit pas aujourd’hui, I would probably say something like Le docteur Dupont n’est pas disponible aujourd’hui (Dr. Dupont isn’t available today) instead.
The important thing is to at least recognize recevoir’s less common uses.
Variants of recevoir
There are two major variants of recevoir that you’ll often come across in French:
reçu(e) – The participle of recevoir is often used as an adjective, as well. It can additionally be a noun – un reçu is one way to say “a receipt” in French.
Note that when reçu is used as an adjective or in certain grammatical structures, it will agree with the noun it’s modifying. If that’s feminine, it will take an “e” at the end.
réception: In addition to being a cognate for the word “reception” (party/gathering) in English, this word can also mean “receiving” and is often used in formal or professional correspondance.
Probably the most common phrase you’ll come across that uses reception in this sense is: un accusé de réception (delivery receipt/acknowledgement of receipt). You can find some other phrases and examples with réception here.
Common phrases and expressions with recevoir
Here are some phrases with recevoir that you’ll likely come across in French:
bien recevoir – to kindly accept. You’ll usually see this phrase in formal or professional correspondance.
Example: Merci de bien recevoir cette lettre et les documents ci-joints. (Kindly accept this letter and the enclosed documents.)
bien reçu(e)/mal reçu(e) (par) – to be well/badly received/taken (perceived). Note that these phrases are almost always followed by the preposition par.
Example: Le film a été très mal reçu par le public. (The film was poorly received by the general public./The general public didn’t like the film.)
recevoir des visiteurs – to receive visitors (a formal way to say “to have guests over”. A less formal alternative is avoir de la visite)
Il vaut mieux donner que recevoir. – It is better to give than to receive.
une idée reçue – a cliche, stereotype, common misconception.
Example: L’habitude des Français à manger régulièrement des cuisses de grenouilles est une idée reçue. (The French regularly eating frogs’ legs is a stereotype.)
Have you used recevoir or one of its variants or expressions before? Feel free to share in the comments!