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Added by admin November 27, 2017

DEVOIR, POUVOIR,VOULOIR

Learn the Present of Devoir, Pouvoir, Vouloir

COUCOU !

You may have already realized that the number of irregular verbs in French is pretty high unfortunately. In the present of the indicative alone, there are a bunch of irregular verbs. Here are three of them ending in -OIR. Time for you to memorize them ! Their conjugations are pretty similar though. Have a look, enjoy and get those verbal skills down !

Source: Pixabay

POUVOIR (can / to be able to)

Je peux

Tu peux

Il/elle/on peut

Nous pouvons

Vous pouvez

Ils/elles peuvent

DEVOIR (to have to / to be set to)

Je dois

Tu dois

Il/elle doit

Nous devons

Vous devez

Ils/elles doivent

VOULOIR (to want)

Je veux

Tu veux

Il/elle/on veut

Nous voulons

Vous voulez

Ils/elles veulent

Reminder :

To form the negative, just add NE before the verb, and PAS after the verb.

Ex : JE NE VEUX PAS.

Fun cultural fact on JE VEUX

French singer Zaz has a song entitled « JE VEUX » and which is pretty fun to listen too. It’s got a fast pace though.

Linguistic fact on DEVOIR/POUVOIR/VOULOIR

Used as a noun, the above verbs take on slighty different meanings…

UN DEVOIR = a duty

UN POUVOIR = a power

SON BON VOULOIR = his/her good will

Source: Pixabay

Practise Use of DEVOIR/POUVOIR/VOULOIR

Fill in the blanks using the most relevant verb at the right form. If you need extra help, please refer to the translation of the sentences below the exercise.

1. Vous ____________ bien me rendre un service s’il vous plaît ?
2. Je sais qu’il est occupé, mais quand _______-il passer ?
3. Tu _________ vraiment partir en France seule ?
4. Nous ____________ tous accepter de faire des choses que nous n’aimons pas.
5. Pablo ____________ arriver vers 15h, c’est prévu comme ça.
6. SoSo et Lili _________ voyager ensemble. Elles ont très envie de faire ça !

Translation

1. Will you do me a favor, please ?
2. I know he’s busy, but when can he stop by ?
3. Do you really want to go to France alone ?
4. We all have to accept to do things we don’t like.
5. Pablo is supposed to arrive around 3 p.m., it’s been planned this way.
6. SoSo and Lili want to travel together. They really want to do that.

Answers : voulez – peut – veux – devons – doit – veulent.