French Grammar Explained /
Can and want - How to use "pouvoir" and "vouloir"
"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?... Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" ♪ ♫ ♬
Wow, wow, wow... Easy tiger!
What? I just watched "Moulin Rouge" last night.
Oh, I thought you were practicing your booty call skills in French. You just asked me... Never mind. Let's learn the iconic duo vouloir (to want) and pouvoir (can):
| vouloir | pouvoir |
je | veux | peux |
tu | veux | peux |
il/elle/on | veut | peut |
nous | voulons | pouvons |
vous | voulez | pouvez |
ils/elles | veulent | peuvent |
Oh, those two verbs are like bread and butter!
Yes, they are!
"Je veux d'l'amour, d'la joie, de la bonne humeur"... ♪ ♫ ♬
Are you even paying attention?
For grammar lovers:
vouloir and pouvoir are modals or modal verbs. This comes from the Latin word modus, which appears in English words such as mode or modify. These sorts of words have the special skill of modifying the meaning of another verb. We can see this in the example below where the verb acheter (to buy) is modified.
Je veux acheter une maison à Paris. -> Wish to buy (a house in Paris).
Je peux acheter une maison à Paris. -> Possibility to buy (a house in Paris).
Honestly though, what does that song mean?
Coucher means "to go to bed", and the rest we have learned already...