putea

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See also: puteá

Galician

Verb

putea

  1. inflection of putear:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin potēre, from Latin posse.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /puˈte̯a/
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -a
  • Hyphenation: pu‧tea
  • Audio(file)

Verb

a putea (third-person singular present poate, past participle putut) 2nd conj.

  1. (catenative, informally also transitive) to be able to; can, could, may
    Nu pot înțelege ce zici.
    I can’t understand what you're saying.
    Pot să stau aici?
    May I sit here?
    Poate să vină?
    Can he come?
    Puteți să mă ajutați, vă rog?
    Can you help me, please?
  2. (reflexive, impersonal, catenative) to be possible, to be conceivable, to be a possibility
    Se poate să fi greșit.
    It could be that they made a mistake.
    Se poate să mai primesc o foaie?
    Could I get another sheet?
    Pe vremea aceea nu se putea ieși din țară.
    In those days one couldn’t exit the country.

Usage notes

Putea and ști are the only verbs for which the subordinate clause they introduce can be in the infinitive mood without the otherwise mandatory auxiliary a (“to”). This is optional, and, for putea, characteristic of careful modes of expression:

Poate merge (infinitive, literary) — Poate să meargă (subjunctive, informal) — “He can walk”. (*Poate a merge — not allowed.)

Accusative personal pronouns governed by the subordinate infinitive verb must precede putea: Îl poate vedea (“she can see him”), not *Poate îl vedea (using the subjunctive: Poate să îl vadă).

A subordinate sentence in the past tense does not allow the infinitive, but only the subjunctive perfect.

Conjugation

    conjugation of putea (second conjugation, past participle in -ut)
infinitive a putea
gerund putând
past participle putut
number singular plural
person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
indicative eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
present pot poți poate putem puteți pot
imperfect puteam puteai putea puteam puteați puteau
simple perfect putui putuși putu puturăm puturăți putură
pluperfect putusem putuseși putuse putuserăm putuserăți putuseră
subjunctive eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
present să pot să poți să poată să putem să puteți să poată
imperative — tu — — voi —
affirmative poate puteți
negative nu putea nu puteți

Derived terms

Related terms

References

  1. ^ Gramatica Limbii Române [Grammar of the Romanian Language], 2nd edition, volume 1, Bucharest: Romanian Academy, 2008, →ISBN, §2.3.4, pages 490–491

Further reading

Spanish

Verb

putea

  1. inflection of putear:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative
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