pouvoir

  • pouvoir overuse

    ByFast French

    If your French is grammatically correct but sounds translated, pouvoir may be part of the problem. English uses “can” for many different purposes, including ability, permission, possibility and requests. French uses several different expressions instead. Using pouvoir whenever you would use “can” can therefore make your French sound unnatural. Here are some common cases and…

  • -oir verbs as nouns

    ByFast French

    A small group of French verbs ending in -oir can also be used as masculine nouns, usually with le or l’. These nouns come from the infinitive forms of the verbs. This use of the infinitive became standard with a handful of verbs, giving us nouns such as le pouvoir, le savoir, l’avoir, le devoir…