Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to be able to.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | peux | I am able to | |
| tu | peux | you are able to | |
| il / elle / on | peut | he / she / it is able toon: we are able to / one is able to | |
| nous | pouvons | we are able to | |
| vous | pouvez | you are able to | |
| ils / elles | peuvent | they are able to |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul peut venir au repas.
Paul is able to come to the meal.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pu | I was able to | |
| tu | as pu | you were able to | |
| il / elle / on | a pu | he / she / it was able toon: we were able to / one was able to | |
| nous | avons pu | we were able to | |
| vous | avez pu | you were able to | |
| ils / elles | ont pu | they were able to |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pu terminer son travail.
Yesterday, Paul was able to finish his work.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pouvais | I was able to | |
| tu | pouvais | you were able to | |
| il / elle / on | pouvait | he / she / it was able toon: we were able to / one was able to | |
| nous | pouvions | we were able to | |
| vous | pouviez | you were able to | |
| ils / elles | pouvaient | they were able to |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pouvait rentrer à pied.
Back then, Paul was able to walk home.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pourrai | I will be able to | |
| tu | pourras | you will be able to | |
| il / elle / on | pourra | he / she / it will be able toon: we will be able to / one will be able to | |
| nous | pourrons | we will be able to | |
| vous | pourrez | you will be able to | |
| ils / elles | pourront | they will be able to |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Demain, Paul pourra nous aider.
Tomorrow, Paul will be able to help us.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pourrais | I would be able to | |
| tu | pourrais | you would be able to | |
| il / elle / on | pourrait | he / she / it would be able toon: we would be able to / one would be able to | |
| nous | pourrions | we would be able to | |
| vous | pourriez | you would be able to | |
| ils / elles | pourraient | they would be able to |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Avec un billet, Paul pourrait entrer.
With a ticket, Paul would be able to enter.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | puisse | (that) I am able to | |
| tu | puisses | (that) you are able to | |
| il / elle / on | puisse | (that) he / she / it is able toon: (that) we are able to / one is able to | |
| nous | puissions | (that) we are able to | |
| vous | puissiez | (that) you are able to | |
| ils / elles | puissent | (that) they are able to |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul puisse venir plus tôt.
Paul may be able to come earlier.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- can, to be able to
- may (of a choice)
- to have the right (to)
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations