Vous pouviez faire le trajet en moins d'un heure. You were able to, used to be able to, could (formal, plural) We were able to go to France once yearly. Nous pouvions aller en France une fois par an. We used to be able to, were able to, could He, she, one was able to, used to be able to, could You were able to, used to be able to, could (informal) Hence, “Je pouvais” translates to “I was able to”, “I used to be able to”, “I could”. The imperfect indicative ( l’imparfait de l’indicatif) is used to express past actions which occurred at undefined times.įor the verb pouvoir, the imperfect is formed by combining the stem of the first-person plural (nous) form of the verb in the present tense with the appropriate ending. Hence, “J’ai pu” means “I was able to” or “I could”.

To form the passé composé for pouvoir, combine avoir in the present tense as an auxiliary verb with the past participle of pouvoir.

Est-ce que je peux vous aider? Can I help you?.

The following is an example of such a question: “Puis-je” is a special inversion of “Je peux”. The two main ways to ask questions in the first-person singular (je) form are as follows.

Nous ne pouvons pas acheter la voiture. We can’t buy the car.Īsking questions in the first-person singular (je) form.

Elle ne peut pas finir son travail avant six heures. She can’t finish her work before six o’clock.Je ne peux pas faire le travail maintenant. I can’t do the work now.The most basic usage of pouvoir is to express being able or not able to carry out actions. While pouvoir means can or to be able, the underlying underling meaning of this verb always relates to capability. This page contains verb conjugation charts for the verb pouvoir in the following tenses: Present indicative ( le présent de l’indicatif), compound past ( le passé composé), imperfect indicative ( l’imparfait de l’indicatif), simple past ( le passé simple), near future ( le future proche), simple future ( le future simple), future tense ( le futur antérieur), conditional ( le conditionnel présent), past conditional ( le conditionnel passé) and the subjunctive ( subjonctif présent).

For example, “ Je peux venir” (I can come). This means that it can precede an in infinitive (to form of a verb). Pouvoir is also a semi-auxiliary or modal verb. This means that when conjugated in the present tense, its endings do not match the ending patterns of other regular verbs in the -ir group. The present tense conjugation of pouvoir is: Je peux (I can), Tu peux (you can, familiar), Il, elle, on peut (He, she, one can), Nous pouvons (We can), Vous pouvez (You can, formal and plural) and Ils, elles peuvent (They can). Pouvoir one of the most commonly used verbs in the French language.

Pouvoir au plus que parfait