pouvoir
French
Alternative forms
- powoir (Lousiana)
Etymology
From Middle French povoir, from Old French povoir, pooir, from early Old French poeir, from Vulgar Latin *potēre (“to be able”), *possō for Classical Latin posse, present active infinitive of possum. The Latin infinitive *potēre was a regularized form from the root potis (“able”) or formed on the basis of the present participle potens. The v is an epenthetic consonant added to avoid hiatus.
See cognates in regional languages in France : Bourguignon peuvoi, Champenois pouâr, Franc-Comtois povoi, Gallo pouair, Lorrain pouhoir, Norman pouveî, Picard puvoèr, Poitevin-Saintongeais pevoer, Franco-Provençal povêr and possêr, Occitan poder, Catalan poder, Corsican putè.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pu.vwaʁ/
audio (file) - (Louisiana) IPA(key): [pu.wɒɾ]
- Rhymes: -waʁ
Verb
pouvoir
- can, to be able to
- Je peux venir ce soir. ― I can come this evening.
- may
- désastre qui peut nous frapper ― disaster which may strike us
- (impersonal, reflexive) to be possible; may, could be
- Il se peut que je sois malade. — (literally) It could be that I'm ill / (more naturally) I may be ill. / I could be ill.
Usage notes
- Pouvoir is not used with verbs relating to the five senses:
- Je te vois ― I (can) see you(not “Je peux te voir”, which is “I can see (i.e. meet) you”)
- It is also not used to mean can (“to know how to”), savoir is used instead.
- Je sais nager ― I can swim(not “Je peux nager”)
- In Belgian French, pouvoir is not used to say someone is capable of something, savoir is used instead.
- Je ne sais pas dormir ― I am not able to sleep("I do not know how to sleep" in France)
- Je ne peux pas dormir ― I am not allowed to sleep("I am not able to sleep" in France)
- Puis (/pɥi/) is an archaic form of the first person present indicative peux. It is still used in inversion or with the conjunction si:
- Puis-je vous aider? ― May I help you?
- Si je puis me permettre… ― If you don't mind…
Conjugation
Conjugation of pouvoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| present participle | pouvant /pu.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past participle | pu /py/ | ||||||
| infinitive | |||||||
| simple | pouvoir | ||||||
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| gerund1 | |||||||
| simple | pouvant /pu.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | peux /pø/ |
peux /pø/ |
peut /pø/ |
pouvons /pu.vɔ̃/ |
pouvez /pu.ve/ |
peuvent /pœv/ |
| imperfect | pouvais /pu.vɛ/ |
pouvais /pu.vɛ/ |
pouvait /pu.vɛ/ |
pouvions /pu.vjɔ̃/ |
pouviez /pu.vje/ |
pouvaient /pu.vɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | pus /py/ |
pus /py/ |
put /py/ |
pûmes /pym/ |
pûtes /pyt/ |
purent /pyʁ/ | |
| future | pourrai /pu.ʁe/ |
pourras /pu.ʁa/ |
pourra /pu.ʁa/ |
pourrons /pu.ʁɔ̃/ |
pourrez /pu.ʁe/ |
pourront /pu.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | pourrais /pu.ʁɛ/ |
pourrais /pu.ʁɛ/ |
pourrait /pu.ʁɛ/ |
pourrions /pu.ʁjɔ̃/ |
pourriez /pu.ʁje/ |
pourraient /pu.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | puisse /pɥis/ |
puisses /pɥis/ |
puisse /pɥis/ |
puissions /pɥi.sjɔ̃/ |
puissiez /pɥi.sje/ |
puissent /pɥis/ |
| imperfect2 | pusse /pys/ |
pusses /pys/ |
pût /py/ |
pussions /py.sjɔ̃/ |
pussiez /py.sje/ |
pussent /pys/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 Only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
| 2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
Conjugation of se pouvoir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| present participle | se pouvant /sə pu.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past participle | pu /py/ | ||||||
| infinitive | |||||||
| simple | se pouvoir | ||||||
| compound | s'être + past participle | ||||||
| gerund1 | |||||||
| simple | se pouvant /sə pu.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
| compound | s'étant + past participle | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | — | — | se peut /sə pø/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect | — | — | se pouvait /sə pu.vɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| past historic2 | — | — | se put /sə py/ |
— | — | — | |
| future | — | — | se pourra /sə pu.ʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
| conditional | — | — | se pourrait /sə pu.ʁɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of s'être + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | — | — | se puisse /sə pɥis/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect2 | — | — | se pût /sə py/ |
— | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of s'être + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of s'être + past participle | — | simple imperative of s'être + past participle | simple imperative of s'être + past participle | — | |
| 1 Only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
| 2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Related terms
Noun
pouvoir m (plural pouvoirs)
- (countable or uncountable) power, a power.
- authority
- (law) power of attorney
Derived terms
Further reading
- “pouvoir” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
This article is issued from
Wiktionary.
The text is licensed under Creative
Commons - Attribution - Sharealike.
Additional terms may apply for the media files.