From Middle French -ois, from conflation of Latin -ēbās and -iēbas — second, third, and fourth conjugation variants of -bās, later generalized to all verbs.
-ais
- forms the first-person and second-person singular imperfect indicative form of a verb
Je regardais la télé pendant que tu parlais au téléphone.- I was watching the telly while you were talking on the phone.
Inherited from Old French -eis (feminine form -esche). In some senses from Late Latin, Vulgar Latin -iscus (from Frankish *-isk, from Proto-Germanic *-iskaz (“-ish”), conflated with Ancient Greek -ισκος (-iskos), all ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-iskos), in others from Latin -ēnsis. Akin to -ois.
-ais (feminine -aise, masculine plural -ais, feminine plural -aises)
- forms adjectives that denote where something or someone is from
- France + -ais → français
- Angle(terre) + -ais → anglais
- Marseille + -ais → marseillais
-ais m (plural -ais)
- forms nouns that denote where something or someone is from
- France + -ais → Français
- Angle(terre) + -ais → Anglais
- Marseille + -ais → Marseillais
- forms nouns that specify the name of the language spoken in this place
- France + -ais → français
- Angle(terre) + -ais → anglais