Romance Languages Verbs: Conjugations of Be able to / Can (pouvoir / potere / poder / poder / poder)

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English	French	Italian	Catalan	Spanish	Portuguese
Infinitive: to be able to / can	pouvoir	potere	poder	poder	poder
Present: am, is, are able to / can	peux / puis	posso	puc	puedo	posso
	peux	puoi	pots	puedes	podes
	peut	può	pot	puede	pode
	pouvons	possiamo	podem	podemos	podemos
	pouvez	potete	podeu	podéis	podeis
	peuvent	possono	poden	pueden	podem
Imperfect: was, were able to/could	pouvais	potevo	podia	podía	podia
	pouvais	potevi	podies	podías	podias
	pouvait	poteva	podia	podía	podia
	pouvions	potevamo	podíem	podíamos	podíamos
	pouviez	potevate	podíeu	podíais	podíeis
	pouvaient	potevano	podien	podían	podiam
Preterite: was, were able to/could	pus	potei / potetti	poguí	pude	pude
(rare in French or Italian speech)	pus	potesti	pogueres	pudiste	pudeste
(alternative Catalan below)	put	poté / potette	pogué	pudo	pôde
	pûmes	potemmo	poguérem	pudimos	pudemos
	pûtes	poteste	poguéreu	pudisteis	pudestes
	purent	poterono / potettero	pogueren	pudieron	puderam
Future: will be able to	pourrai	potrò	podré	podré	poderei
	pourras	potrai	podràs	podrás	poderás
	pourra	potrà	podrà	podrá	poderá
	pourrons	potremo	podrem	podremos	poderemos
	pourrez	potrete	podreu	podréis	podereis
	pourront	potranno	podran	podrán	poderão
Conditional: would be able to/could	pourrais	potrei	podria	podría	poderia
	pourrais	potresti	podries	podrías	poderias
	pourrait	potrebbe	podria	podría	poderia
	pourrions	potremmo	podríem	podríamos	poderíamos
	pourriez	potreste	podríeu	podríais	poderíais
	pourraient	potrebbero	podrien	podrían	poderiam
Present Subjunctive: can/may	puisse	possa	pugui	pueda	possa
	puisses	possa	puguis	puedas	possas
	puisse	possa	pugui	pueda	possa
	puissions	possiamo	puguem	podamos	possamos
	puissiez	possiate	pugueu	podáis	possais
	puissent	possano	puguin	puedan	possam
Imperfect Subjunctive: was, were able to/could	pusse	potessi	pogués	pudiera	pudesse
(rare in French speech)	pusses	potessi	poguessis	pudieras	pudesses
(alternative Spanish below)	pût	potesse	pogués	pudiera	pudesse
	pussions	potessimo	poguéssim	pudiéramos	pudéssemos
	pussiez	poteste	poguéssiu	pudierais	pudésseis
	pussent	potessero	poguessin	pudieran	pudessem
Gerund: being able to Present Participle: being able to	en pouvant pouvant	potendo potente	podent	podiendo	podendo
Past Participle: was, were able to/could	pu	potuto	pogut	podido	podido
Auxiliary verb in perfect tenses	avoir	avere	haver	haber	ter

The periphrastic past in Catalan is an alternative to the preterite. It is formed by using anar as an auxiliary verb followed by the infinitive.

vaig poder

vas poder

va poder

vam poder

vau poder

van poder

There is an alternative form of the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish, which is more similar to Portuguese. Simply replace -ra- with -se- for all conjugations:

pudiera / pudiese

pudieras / pudieses

pudiera / pudiese

pudiéramos / pudiésemos

pudierais / pudieseis

pudieran / pudiesen

The future subjunctive is only used in formal or literary Spanish, but it is easy to conjugate since it is nearly identical to the imperfect subjunctive forms. The future subjunctive in Portuguese is very common and the same endings are used for the personal infinitive (see below).

Spanish	Portuguese
pudiere	puder
pudieres	puderes
pudiere	puder
pudiéremos	pudermos
pudiereis	puderdes
pudieren	puderem

The personal infinitive in Portuguese uses the infinitive as the stem + the endings of the future subjunctive.

poder

poderes

poder

podermos

poderdes

poderem

There is an alternative form of the past perfect in Portugueuse which only uses one word rather than an auxiliary verb + past participle. These conjugations are quite similar to the imperfect subjunctive conjugations using -ra- in Spanish. However, this simple form is only used in formal or literary Portuguese. (Note that the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish using -ra- can also be used in formal or literary language as an alternative to the compound past perfect.)

pudera

puderas

pudera

pudéramos

pudéreis

puderam