Learn Romanian › putea
putea
to be able to, can /puˈte̯a/
verb#23 most common
Also: may, to manage to, to be capable of
Example sentences
Eu pot să înot.
I can swim.
Poți să mă ajuți, te rog?
Can you help me, please?
Nu am putut să vin la petrecere.
I couldn't come to the party.
Ați putea să-mi trimiteți documentul până mâine?
Could you send me the document by tomorrow?
Se poate ca vremea să se schimbe brusc în munți.
It's possible that the weather could change suddenly in the mountains.
Oricât de mult ar fi putut să insiste, decizia rămânea neschimbată.
No matter how much he could have insisted, the decision stayed unchanged.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | pot | putui | voi putea |
| 2sg | poți | putuși | vei putea |
| 3sg | poate | putu | va putea |
| 1pl | putem | puturăm | vom putea |
| 2pl | puteți | puturăți | veți putea |
| 3pl | pot | putură | vor putea |
Word family
puterepower, strengthputernicpowerful, strong
neputinciospowerless, feeble
atotputernicalmighty
putințăpossibility, ability
Etymology
Putea comes from Vulgar Latin potere, a reshaped infinitive built on the stem of Latin posse, "to be able," itself tied to potis, "able, capable." Classical Latin posse was irregular and hard to inflect, so spoken Latin regularized it into a second-conjugation verb, potere. Romanian inherited this regularized form directly, which is why putea conjugates like other -ea verbs such as avea and vedea.
Learn Romanian the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,027 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,027 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free