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Grammar for Dummies: Could

Why is this word so confusing in French ?

The reason is quite simple, the French mainly have two ways of expressing it while in Engish there is only one way (= could).

Sometimes when using « could » we refer to an action in the past.

Ex : When I was young, I could …

Here we refer to something we could do, were able to do, were allowed to do

Sometimes we refer to an action in the futur.

Ex : Tomorrow I could …

Here refer to what we consider could happen (futur)

To express « Could » in the past tense, French people use the « imparfait » version of the verb « pouvoir ». While to express « could » in the futur tense, they use the « conditionnel » version of the verb « pouvoir ».

Ils/elles pouvaient

COULD (passé) Imparfait		COULD (notion de futur) Conditionnel
Je pouvais	+ (any infinitive verb) courir 10 km parler espagnol faire la cuisine comprendre le chinois	Je pourrais Tu pourrais Il/elle pourrait Nous pourrions Vous pourriez Ils/elles pourraient	+ (any infinitive verb) courir parler espagnol faire la cuisine comprendre le chinois
Tu pouvais
Il/elle/on pouvait
Nous pouvions
Vous pouviez
Examples Quand j’étais petit je pouvais sortir le soir jusqu’à 18h. Quand on était en vacances, on pouvait se coucher après 23h. (an authorisation) Quand il était jeune, il pouvait jouer de la guitare. (à capacity of doing something)				Exemples On pourrait aller au cinéma ce week end. (à a suggestion) Je pourrais acheter un grand chalet si j’étais millionnaire. (à world of fantasy)

The structure is EXACTLY the same as with « CAN » so :

we need to verbs
the first verb gets changed
the first verb gets the negation (if needed)
the second verb is not changed (infinitive)

à In a negative sentence :

COULD (passé)

Imparfait

COULD (futur)

Conditionnel

Je ne pouvais pas jouer dehors

On ne pouvait pas regarder la télé

Je ne pourrais pas acheter de chalet

Elle ne pourrait plus dormir

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