pouvoir

"To be able to" / "can" — a modal verb, always followed directly by an infinitive with no preposition in between (je peux partir, not *je peux à partir). The conditional form, je pourrais, is also the standard polite way to ask for something.

• Je peux t'aider ? — Can I help you?
• Tu peux venir avec nous. — You can come with us.
• Pourriez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ? — Could you repeat that, please?

Mixing up pouvoir (physical/circumstantial ability — "I can because I'm allowed to / able to") with savoir (learned skill — "I know how to"). "I can swim" because you know how is je sais nager, not je peux nager.

Often confused with savoir.

• quote "Un grand pouvoir implique de grandes responsabilités" — The standard French rendering of Spider-Man's founding moral, first spoken by Uncle Ben in Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962) — "with great power comes great responsibility."
• expression "Vouloir, c'est pouvoir" — "To want is to be able" — a French proverb documented since at least 1818, roughly equivalent to "where there's a will, there's a way."
• politics Pouvoir d'achat — "Purchasing power" — a recurring flashpoint in French politics, central to the 2018 gilets jaunes protests and the 2022 loi pouvoir d'achat passed to address inflation.