"Je peux parler français."
Translation:I can speak French.
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I've heard people say that "Je peux parler français" sounds odd, that it is almost like saying "I am allowed to speak French."
Is "Je peux parler français" used? Are "Je parle français" or "Je sais parler français" more natural?
If it's anything like Portuguese, here we'd use the bottom 2 sentences more, and also "je sais français". In our context saying that you know french/how to speak it focuses more on the fact that you know the kanguage, whereas saying "I speak French" is more casual. I'm no native, though
"pouvoir" means "to be able" and "can". "Je peux parler francais," in my mind, means "I am able to speak french," or if you want to change it a little more to fit english normality, "I have the ability to speak french."
I feel like I've heard "francais," as in the language, referred to in French as both "francais" and "le francais." Is there a time when one is more appropriate to use than the other?
I always thought I can speak French was je sais parler français. I didn't think the French said je peux parler français, but I may be wrong.
I think one means I know how to speak french and the other I can speak french. Both are valid I think it just depends on the context
It is not natural to say that in English. You could say "I can talk in French" or "I can speak French".
in french when a verb directly follows another verb then the infinitive is used for the second verb
examples
je dois commencer - I must start
Voulez-vous venir - Will you come
je voudrais parler aver vows - I would like to speak with you
À quelle heure vous allez être ici - At what time are you going to be here
Je vais préparer le dîner pour nous - I am going to prepare dinner for us
je vais être prêt bientôt - I am going to be ready soon
Vous devez attendre - You have to wait
Est-ce que je peux vous aider? - Can I help you?
It's in the infinitive whenever you use peux (can). So:
I can speak=je peux parler I can dance=je peux danser
Je parle is in the indicative only (I speak/I am speaking), nowhere else.
You also use the infinitive when you combine with je dois (I must), je veux (I want to), je voudrais (I'd like to), ...
parler est 'to speak' et 'speak' . 'parle' est 'speaking', alors c'est bizarre a le dire. It would be weird in English as well, if you said 'I can speaking French'.
Another sci-fi sentence by Duolingo. Correct form was "Mon français est catastrophique."
Pfft. Don't be silly duolingo. No one here can speak French after all these courses. That's ridiculous.
(CMIIW about anything here) Firstly, "I can talk French," is improper grammar, because talk (in that sense) is intransitive, meaning it cannot have a direct object. Secondly, talk and speak are different verbs in French. "Dire" means to say and "parler" means to speak (talk has many definitions in english; in my opinion, try to avoid translating it). Even though they may seem interchangable in English, they are not always in French. E.g. "I will go" vs "I am going to go." Not interchangable in french, but interchangable in english.
I have always wondered why this sentence doesn't need an article! Is that just the case when speaking of a language?
you can "parler français" or "parler le/en français".
but you can only "écrire le/en français"
can i write "je sait parler francais"? like "il sait bien parler francais"
conjugation of verb "savoir" in indicative present:
je sais, tu sais, il/elle/on sait, nous savons, vous savez, ils/elles savent
"je peux parler français" means that you are up to do it, capable of doing it, ready to do it (if needed).
"je sais parler français" means that you have learned French, that you know how to speak French.
The difference is not huge, so it will be a matter of circumstances.
The sentence is not negative: "I cannot speak French/Je ne peux pas parler français" are negative sentences.
There is no mandatory article in this sentence:
- I can speak French can translate to: "je parle français", "je parle le français" or "je parle en français".
