Aller
/a.le/noun
A French verb meaning “to go,” used to describe movement, departure, or progression.
Did you know?French aller developed through a rare merger of forms related to Latin ambulāre (“to walk”), īre (“to go”), and vādere (“to proceed”), making it an unusually blended verb.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Latin
Latin
ambulāre
“To walk about, move around, or stroll”
Late Latin
Latin
ambulāre
“To travel or move from place to place”
Gallo-Romance
Gallo-Romance
*allāre
“A reconstructed form believed to have contributed to the development of French aller”
Old French
Old French
aler
“To go or travel”
Middle French
Middle French
aler / aller
“To go; spelling and forms increasingly stabilized”
Modern French
French
aller
“To go; also used in expressions describing future action and wellbeing”
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