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Conjugation of the French verb pouvoir

A list of the common conjugations for the French verb pouvoir, along with their English translations.

pouvoir is an irregular verb

Verb phrases

Infinitive		Scored
pouvoir	to be able to

Present		Scored
je peux	I can
tu peux	you can
il peut	he can
elle peut	she can
nous pouvons	we can
vous pouvez	you can
ils peuvent	they can
elles peuvent	they can

Imperfect		Scored
je pouvais	I was able to
tu pouvais	you were able to
il pouvait	he was able to
elle pouvait	she was able to
nous pouvions	we were able to
vous pouviez	you were able to
ils pouvaient	they were able to
elles pouvaient	they were able to

Past Historic / Passé Simple This is a literary tense, i.e. a tense used in writing, in everyday speech the Passé Composé is used to refer to past actions.		Scored
je pus	I could
tu pus	you could
il put	he could
elle put	she could
nous pûmes	we could
vous pûtes	you could
ils purent	they could
elles purent	they could

Passé Composé		Scored
j'ai pu	I could
tu as pu	you could
il a pu	he could
elle a pu	she could
nous avons pu	we could
vous avez pu	you could
ils ont pu	they could
elles ont pu	they could

Pluperfect / Plus-que-parfait		Scored
j'avais pu	I had been able to
tu avais pu	you had been able to
il avait pu	he had been able to
elle avait pu	she had been able to
nous avions pu	we had been able to
vous aviez pu	you had been able to
ils avaient pu	they had been able to
elles avaient pu	they had been able to

Future		Scored
je pourrai	I will be able to
tu pourras	you will be able to
il pourra	he will be able to
elle pourra	she will be able to
nous pourrons	we will be able to
vous pourrez	you will be able to
ils pourront	they will be able to
elles pourront	they will be able to

Future Perfect / Futur antérieur The French Future Perfect or Futur antérieur is made with the future tense of avoir or être and the past participle of the verb. The past participle agrees with the subject for verbs that take être, or with the direct object for verbs that take avoir.		Scored
j'aurai pu	I will have been able to
tu auras pu	you will have been able to
il aura pu	he will have been able to
elle aura pu	she will have been able to
nous aurons pu	we will have been able to
vous aurez pu	you will have been able to
ils auront pu	they will have been able to
elles auront pu	they will have been able to

Conditional		Scored
je pourrais	I could
tu pourrais	you could
il pourrait	he could
elle pourrait	she could
nous pourrions	we could
vous pourriez	you could
ils pourraient	they could
elles pourraient	they could

Conditional Perfect / Conditionnel passé The French Conditional Perfect (the past conditional) or Conditionnel passé is made with the conditional tense of avoir or être and the past participle of the verb. The past participle agrees with the subject for verbs that take être, or with the direct object for verbs that take avoir.		Scored
j'aurais pu	I would have been able to
tu aurais pu	you would have been able to
il aurait pu	he would have been able to
elle aurait pu	she would have been able to
nous aurions pu	we would have been able to
vous auriez pu	you would have been able to
ils auraient pu	they would have been able to
elles auraient pu	they would have been able to

Present Subjunctive		Scored
(... que) je puisse	(... that) I can
(... que) tu puisses	(... that) you can
(... que) il puisse	(... that) he can
(... que) elle puisse	(... that) she can
(... que) nous puissions	(... that) we can
(... que) vous puissiez	(... that) you can
(... que) ils puissent	(... that) they can
(... que) elles puissent	(... that) they can

Imperfect Subjunctive		Scored
(... que) je pusse	(... that) I was able to
(... que) tu pusses	(... that) you were able to
(... que) il pût	(... that) he was able to
(... que) elle pût	(... that) she was able to
(... que) nous pussions	(... that) we were able to
(... que) vous pussiez	(... that) you were able to
(... que) ils pussent	(... that) they were able to
(... que) elles pussent	(... that) they were able to

Present Participle		Scored
pouvant	being able to

Past Participle		Scored
pu	been able to

Regular conjugation

Irregular conjugation

Spelling change

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