# EN: awake / awoken



## vatloute

Bonjour,
J'aimerai savoir si quelqu'un peut m'expliquer pourquoi en anglais on dit: "I'm awake" et pas plutôt "I'm _awoken"?_
Cela peut paraître stupide comme question, mais je l'ai tjrs dit de la bonne manière sans savoir pourquoi il y a des exceptions comme "It's open" et pas "it's _opened"_!
Si il y a d'autres verbes qui échapent à la règle du participe passé merci de me le dire.


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## djamal 2008

Tu dis I'm asleep not I'm slept. Awake est un attribut et pas un participe passé.

I have awoken from my deep sleep.


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## brian

_I am awake = Je suis réveillé. _[en état d'être réveillé, de ne pas dormir]
_I am awoken = On m'a réveillé._

J'espère que c'est utile.


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## Dzienne

Well, they are completely different conjugations.  If I am awake, then it is a state of being.  I am not asleep.  I am awake.  If I am awoken, then I am awake, but something has likely caused this.


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## geostan

La forme _awoken_ ne s'emploie pas avec le verbe _to be_. Voici ce qu'on peut dire:

I have awoken (Je me suis réveillé) Cette forme n'est pas usuelle.
I was awakened (On m'a réveillé ou quelque chose m'a réveillé)
I am awake. (Je ne suis plus endormi. C'est l'état après s'être réveillé.)

Noter que _awoken_ est un participe passé; _awake_ est un adjectif.



Dzienne said:


> Well, they are completely different conjugations.  If I am awake, then it is a state of being.  I am not asleep.  I am awake.  If I am awoken, then I am awake, but something has likely caused this.



I wouldn't say "I am awoken." I would use "awakened.)


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## Dzienne

And I awoke, faintly bouncing round the room, the echo of whomever spoke..
~Phish

Geostan, "awakened" is past tense.  "awoken" is present participle.


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## waggledook

How can awoken be a present participle?
Surely the present participle is formed with -ing? i.e awaking

And let's be careful here. People have been talking about two different verbs. "Awoke" and "Awoken" are the past form and past participle respectively of the verb awake. While we do not use the verb in contemporary English, it is the root verb. Awakened is the past participle of the verb awaken.


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## vatloute

Okay, merci pour vos réponses, mais j'aimerais comprendre pourquoi. Pourquoi en français dit-on _je suis réveillé_ (participe passé) et en anglais _I'm awake,_ et pas le past participle "_I'm awoken"_? Existe t-il une forme qui n'existe pas en français pour exprimer certains états.


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## brian

waggledook said:
			
		

> And let's be careful here. People have been talking about two different verbs. "Awoke" and "Awoken" are the past form and past participle respectively of the verb awake. While we do not use the verb in contemporary English, it is the root verb. Awakened is the past participle of the verb awaken.



Exactly. 

(1) _awake, awoke, awoken_
(2) _awaken, awakened, awakened_

The verb in question here, as given by the thread starter, is (1), not (2), so I think we should stick to (1), especially as (2), I'd say, is less common anyway.


			
				vatloute said:
			
		

> Okay, merci pour vos réponses, mais j'aimerais comprendre pourquoi. Pourquoi en français dit-on _je suis réveillé_ (participe passé) et en anglais _I'm awake,_ et pas le past participle "_I'm awoken"_? Existe t-il une forme qui n'existe pas en français pour exprimer certains états.



Parce que _réveillé _est un participe passé ET un adjectif. Dans ce cas ("I am awake = Je suis réveillé"), on parle d'un *état* et pas d'une action, et alors il faut utiliser l'adjectif qui décrit l'état--alors _awake/réveillé.

_Mais si on parle d'une *action*--_je suis réveillé_ ou bien _je suis été réveillé_--alors il faut utiliser le participe passé: _I am awoken, I was/have been awoken._

C'est seulement par hasard qu'en français _réveillé _(participe passé) = _réveillé_ (adjectif).


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## geostan

Dzienne said:


> And I awoke, faintly bouncing round the room, the echo of whomever spoke..
> ~Phish
> 
> Geostan, "awakened" is past tense.  "awoken" is present participle.



Awoken is not a a present participle. It is as I said earlier a past participle. It is a strange verb, because there are two past participles: awakened and awoken. 

In my own use of these forms, I use _awoken_ intransitively, which is why I would never say_ I am awoken. _On the other hand, I use awakened transitively so that I can use it in a passive sentence_. I am awakened._


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## brian

geostan said:


> In my own use of these forms, I use _awoken_ intransitively, which is why I would never say_ I am awoken. _On the other hand, I use awakened transitively so that I can use it in a passive sentence_. I am awakened._



Sorry, but the two verbs you are describing--_to awake_ (_awake, awoke, awoken_) and _to awaken _(_awaken, awakened, awakened_) are *exactly* the same verb, just two different versions, with _awaken_ being the less common, according to my ears and to Webster. Both verbs can be both transitive and intransitive.


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## geostan

brian8733 said:


> Sorry, but the two verbs you are describing--_to awake_ (_awake, awoke, awoken_) and _to awaken _(_awaken, awakened, awakened_) are *exactly* the same verb, just two different versions, with _awaken_ being the less common, according to my ears and to Webster. Both verbs can be both transitive and intransitive.



We'll have to disagree about this. I maintain that the form "I am awoken" sounds peculiar. So of the two following sentences I would only use the second version.

He was awoken by the sound of a foghorn.
He was awakened by the sound of a foghorn.

This could be regional.

I checked Webster's Unabridged dictionary, and awake can only be used intransitively, which is probably why I objected to the first version I gave.


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## waggledook

Perhaps we're slightly missing the point here. Do any of us actually use these forms on a regular basis, if at all? This may just be personal, but to refer to the state of being awake or the change of state from asleep to awake, I am unlikely to use either of these verbs.
I would use the phrasal verb "to wake up" almost exclusively.
He woke (me) up.
He's woken up, etc...

I think I might use "awaken" in a more emotional or psychological context:
e.g. The sight of the family together awakened the paternal instinct in him.

What do others think? I'm particularly interested in any native English speakers who feel they use these constructions in the strictly physical sense. It's quite possible I'm wrong, but no matter how technically correct they are, they strike me as unusual in modern English speech (American or British). Or at the very least, they sound highly affected.


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## Dzienne

waggledook said:


> I would use the phrasal verb "to wake up" almost exclusively.
> He woke (me) up.
> He's woken up, etc...



I agree from an AE perspective also.



waggledook said:


> Or at the very least, they sound highly affected.



The effect of using "affect" correctly affects me in such a positive way, I effectively would buy you a beer if I met you in a pub!  But that's a discussion for another thread. 



geostan said:


> Awoken is not a a present participle. It is as I said earlier a past participle.



Oh, true, I was thinking of a sentence like "I am awoken." to use the participle as an adjective, but that could just as easily be "I have awoken" to be a form of past tense.


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