French grammar · Intermediate
Modal Verbs in French: How Can, Must and Should Are Expressed
French has no modal auxiliaries in the English sense. Where English uses short, unchangeable words like can, must and may, French uses ordinary verbs — pouvoir, devoir, vouloir, savoir, falloir — which conjugate in full, take a bare infinitive after them, and carry the sense of might, should and would in their own endings rather than in a separate word.
Je ne peux pas venir, mais je devrais pouvoir passer demain.
I can't come, but I should be able to drop by tomorrow.
What it is
English modals are defective: can has no infinitive, must has no past, and they never take an ending. French has nothing like them. Its modal ideas are carried by full verbs that conjugate through every tense and mood, which means a French modal can itself appear as an infinitive, a participle, or a subjunctive.
Je veux pouvoir dormir. — I want to be able to sleep.
How to spot it
A French modal sentence has two verbs: one conjugated, one infinitive, and nothing in between. If a preposition appears, the verb is not functioning as a modal.
- Tu peux m'aider ? — Can you help me?
- Nous devons partir tôt. — We have to leave early.
- Elle veut apprendre le japonais. — She wants to learn Japanese.
- Il faut réserver à l'avance. — You have to book in advance.
Compare j'essaie de partir and je commence à partir, which need a preposition. Modals never do.
Modal Verbs Quick Reference
The French modal verbs and what they cover
| Verb | Core meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| pouvoir | can, to be able to, may | je peux venir — I can come |
| devoir | must, to have to, to be supposed to | je dois partir — I have to leave |
| vouloir | to want to | je veux essayer — I want to try |
| savoir | can, in the sense of knowing how | je sais nager — I can swim |
| falloir | to be necessary (impersonal only) | il faut partir — we must leave |
| pouvoir at the conditional | could, might | je pourrais venir — I could come |
| devoir at the conditional | should, ought to | tu devrais dormir — you should sleep |
| vouloir at the conditional | would like | je voudrais un café — I'd like a coffee |
Common Modal Verbs Examples in French
Modality expressed across the different verbs:
Ability and Permission
- On peut se garer ici ?
- Can we park here?
- Je n'ai pas pu le joindre.
- I couldn't reach him.
- Vous pouvez entrer.
- You may come in.
- Puis-je vous poser une question ?
- May I ask you a question?
Puis-je is a survival from older French, kept because peux-je is unpronounceable. It sounds formal and polite.
Obligation and Expectation
- Tu dois finir avant vendredi.
- You have to finish before Friday.
- Le train doit arriver à midi.
- The train is due to arrive at noon.
- Il a dû oublier.
- He must have forgotten.
- Vous devriez consulter un médecin.
- You should see a doctor.
Devoir covers three separate English ideas: obligation, expectation, and deduction. The tense usually decides which.
Wanting and Requesting
- Je veux voir le responsable.
- I want to see the manager.
- Voudriez-vous répéter ?
- Would you mind repeating that?
- Elle a voulu partir tôt.
- She decided to leave early.
- Je voudrais réserver pour deux.
- I'd like to book for two.
Je veux is blunt in a shop or restaurant. The conditional je voudrais is what politeness requires.
Necessity Without a Subject
- Il faut manger avant de partir.
- We need to eat before leaving.
- Il faudrait lui en parler.
- Somebody ought to mention it to him.
- Il ne faut pas s'inquiéter.
- There's no need to worry.
- Il faut que tu viennes.
- You have to come.
Falloir has no personal subject at all. To name who is obliged, use il faut que plus the subjunctive.
How French Modality Is Built
Full conjugation, a bare infinitive, and a set of meanings distributed across tenses rather than across words.
The Modal Carries the Tense, the Infinitive Carries the Action
Only the first verb is conjugated. The second stays in the infinitive whatever the tense, so the whole burden of time and person sits on the modal.
Nous avons voulu partir plus tôt.
We wanted to leave earlier.
Conjugate one, leave the other alone.
No Preposition Between Them
Modals join directly to the infinitive. This is what separates them from verbs like essayer de, réussir à, or accepter de, which all need a linking word.
Je dois travailler ce soir.
I have to work tonight.
modal + infinitive, nothing between.
The Conditional Supplies Should, Could and Would
English adds a separate word; French changes the ending. Devrais is should, pourrais is could, voudrais is would like. There is no extra auxiliary anywhere in the sentence.
Tu pourrais essayer, tu devrais même insister.
You could try, you should even insist.
Conditional endings = should / could / would.
A French Modal Can Be an Infinitive Itself
Because these are ordinary verbs, they can appear in positions English modals cannot reach. You can stack them, put them after another modal, or use them after a preposition.
J'aimerais pouvoir t'aider.
I'd like to be able to help you.
vouloir pouvoir, devoir pouvoir, aller devoir.
The Tense Rewrites the Meaning
Devoir in the present is obligation, in the passé composé usually deduction, and in the conditional advice. Pouvoir in the passé composé means managed to; in the imperfect it means was able to.
Il devait le savoir, donc il a dû mentir.
He was supposed to know, so he must have lied.
Same verb, different tense, different modality.
Common Mistakes with Modal Verbs
Incorrect: Je peux de venir demain. — I can come tomorrow.
Correct: Je peux venir demain. — I can come tomorrow.
Modal verbs take the infinitive directly. The de belongs to verbs like essayer de and oublier de, not to pouvoir, devoir, or vouloir.
Incorrect: Je veux un café, s'il vous plaît. — I'd like a coffee, please.
Correct: Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît. — I'd like a coffee, please.
Je veux is grammatical but reads as a demand. French politeness runs through the conditional, so requests use je voudrais or j'aimerais.
Incorrect: Je ne peux venir pas. — I can't come.
Correct: Je ne peux pas venir. — I can't come.
Ne and pas close around the conjugated verb. The infinitive sits outside them, which puts pas immediately before venir.
Incorrect: Je peux nager depuis l'âge de six ans. — I've been able to swim since I was six.
Correct: Je sais nager depuis l'âge de six ans. — I've been able to swim since I was six.
For a skill you have learned, French uses savoir. Pouvoir would mean you are physically free to swim right now, for instance that the pool is open.
The Modal Verbs Conjugated
All four personal modals share a stem split between singular and plural, and all four have irregular futures. Falloir exists only in the third person singular.
Present tense
The singular stem is short and the plural stem restores the vowel of the infinitive. Ils peuvent, ils doivent and ils veulent all bring back a stem you cannot hear in the singular.
| Pronoun | pouvoir | devoir | vouloir | savoir |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je | peux | dois | veux | sais |
| tu | peux | dois | veux | sais |
| il / elle / on | peut | doit | veut | sait |
| nous | pouvons | devons | voulons | savons |
| vous | pouvez | devez | voulez | savez |
| ils / elles | peuvent | doivent | veulent | savent |
Falloir has one form only: il faut. There is no je faux and no nous fallons.
Future and conditional
The conditional is where most modal meaning actually lives in everyday French, because it turns a demand into a suggestion.
| Pronoun | futur | conditionnel | sens du conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|
| pouvoir | je pourrai | je pourrais | I could |
| devoir | je devrai | je devrais | I should |
| vouloir | je voudrai | je voudrais | I would like |
| savoir | je saurai | je saurais | I would know how |
| falloir | il faudra | il faudrait | someone ought to |
| aller (semi-auxiliary) | j'irai | j'irais | I would go |
The double r in pourrais and the v in devrais are the only clues that separate these stems from the infinitive.
Past participles and subjunctives
These are the forms you need for compound tenses and after expressions like bien que or il faut que.
| Pronoun | participe passé | subjonctif (que je) |
|---|---|---|
| pouvoir | pu | puisse |
| devoir | dû | doive |
| vouloir | voulu | veuille |
| savoir | su | sache |
| falloir | fallu | faille |
| aller | allé | aille |
Dû keeps its circumflex only in the masculine singular. The feminine and plural forms drop it: due, dus, dues.
Pronouns, Negation, and Word Order
A two-verb sentence raises three questions: where the negation goes, where the object pronouns go, and what happens in the past.
Negation wraps the conjugated verb
Ne and pas surround the modal, not the infinitive. The infinitive stays outside the negation entirely.
- Je ne peux pas venir.
- I can't come.
- Il ne veut jamais aider.
- He never wants to help.
- Nous n'avons pas pu entrer.
- We couldn't get in.
- Ne pas fumer.
- No smoking.
Ne pas fumer, with both parts before the infinitive, is the form used on signs and in written instructions.
Object pronouns attach to the infinitive
The pronoun belongs to the verb it is the object of, which is the infinitive. It therefore sits between the modal and the infinitive, not before the modal.
- Je veux le voir.
- I want to see him.
- Tu peux me les envoyer ?
- Can you send them to me?
- Elle ne veut pas y aller.
- She doesn't want to go there.
- Il faut leur en parler.
- Somebody needs to talk to them about it.
Compare je le veux, I want it, where le is the object of vouloir itself and moves in front of it.
The past splits obligation from deduction
In compound tenses, devoir and pouvoir take on readings that the present does not have. Context decides, but the pattern is regular enough to rely on.
- J'ai dû prendre un taxi.
- I had to take a taxi.
- Elle a dû se tromper.
- She must have made a mistake.
- Il a pu réparer la porte.
- He managed to fix the door.
- Il pouvait réparer n'importe quoi.
- He could fix anything.
Passé composé pouvoir means succeeded on one occasion; imperfect pouvoir describes a standing ability.
Modal Verbs FAQs
- Does French have modal verbs like English?
- Not in the same sense. English modals are defective words with no infinitive and no participle, while pouvoir, devoir, vouloir and savoir are ordinary verbs that conjugate in every tense. That is why you can say je veux pouvoir, which has no direct English equivalent.
- Which verbs count as modal in French?
- Pouvoir, devoir, vouloir, savoir and the impersonal falloir. All of them are followed by a bare infinitive, and each one covers a slice of what English spreads across can, must, may, should and want to.
- How do you say should in French?
- With the conditional of devoir: tu devrais te reposer, you should rest. There is no separate word; the ending does the work. For a softer version, il faudrait plus an infinitive works too.
- What's the difference between savoir and pouvoir for can?
- Savoir is a learned skill: je sais conduire, I can drive. Pouvoir is possibility or permission on this occasion: je peux conduire, I'm free or allowed to drive. Using pouvoir for a skill sounds like you are describing today's circumstances.
- Where do object pronouns go with a modal verb?
- In front of the infinitive, because that is the verb they belong to: je veux le voir, tu peux me téléphoner. They only move in front of the modal when they are its own object, as in je le veux.