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)

• IPA^(key): [pu.wɒɾ]
• Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

pouvoir

1. can, to be able to

   Je peux venir ce soir. ― I can come this evening.

2. may

   désastre qui peut nous frapper ― disaster which may strike us

3. (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)

infinitive	simple	pouvoir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	pouvant /pu.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		pu /py/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	peux /pø/2	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 historic4	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 anterior4	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/3	puisses /pɥis/	puisse /pɥis/	puissions /pɥi.sjɔ̃/	puissiez /pɥi.sje/	puissent /pɥis/
	imperfect4	pusse /pys/	pusses /pys/	pût /py/	pussions /py.sjɔ̃/	pussiez /py.sje/	pussent /pys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect4	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	—	—	—	—	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 puis when inverted.
3 puissé when inverted.
4 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• puissance

Noun

pouvoir m (plural pouvoirs)

1. (countable or uncountable) power, a power.
2. authority
3. (law) power of attorney

Derived terms

• au pouvoir

Further reading

• “pouvoir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.