peut

Peut is the third-person singular present indicative form of the French verb pouvoir, meaning to be able to do something or to express possibility or permission. The full present tense conjugation of pouvoir is je peux, tu peux, il peut, nous pouvons, vous pouvez, ils peuvent. Peut is used with an infinitive to indicate ability, possibility, or permission: Il peut venir (He can come); Elle peut parler anglais (She can speak English); Cela peut arriver demain (That may happen tomorrow).

In negative or interrogative constructions, peut forms a core part of the sense of ability or possibility: Il ne peut pas venir (He cannot come); On peut fumer ici is a common way to say you may smoke here. For questions, the inversion peut-il venir ? is grammatically correct but in everyday speech Est-ce qu’il peut venir ? is more common.

Peut is also encountered in impersonal or weather-related expressions, such as Il peut pleuvoir (It may rain), where the subject is impersonal. The pronunciation typically treats the final t as silent, so peut sounds like [pø].

The adverbial phrase peut-être (perhaps, maybe) is a frequent French use derived from the same root: pouvoir + être. It is hyphenated and functions as a single word meaning "perhaps" rather than a direct combination of "can be." Etymologically, pouvoir originates from Latin potēre (to be able), with the present form peut developing in the lineage of Old French to its modern use.

In summary, peut marks the present ability or possibility of the subject in rapport with an infinitive, and it features prominently in everyday French as a versatile component of permission, possibility, and speculative statements. See also pouvoir for broader conjugation and usage.