pourrais

Pourrais is the présent du conditionnel of the French verb pouvoir, meaning "could" or "would be able to." It is used to express possibility, hypothetical ability, or polite requests. The full set of present conditional forms is: je pourrais, tu pourrais, il/elle pourrait; nous pourrions, vous pourriez, ils/elles pourraient. When used without an explicit subject, pourrais can be read as either je pourrais or tu pourrais, depending on the surrounding context.

Usage-wise, pourrais conveys nuance beyond simple ability. It often signals uncertainty or politeness, particularly in requests. Examples: Je pourrais venir demain si tout va bien. Pourrais-tu me passer le sel ? Il pourrait faire beau ce soir. The form is also common in si-clauses: Si j’avais le temps, je pourrais t’aider.

Grammatical notes: the conditional présent shares its stem with the future simple (pourr-). It is formed by attaching the imperfect endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient) to the stem pourr-. The negation uses ne... pas: Je ne pourrais pas venir. The spelling keeps the two r’s in writing, but pronunciation typically renders them as a single French R.

Etymology: pouvoir comes from Latin posse, via Old French and other intermediaries. The conditional form pourr- reflects the regular pattern of many verbs in French that use the same stem for future and conditional, with the -ais endings.

See also: pouvoir, conditionnel présent, si clauses.