The Form 'puis'

01

Everywhere Else, 'je peux'

Once the subject sits in front of the verb again, the ordinary form comes back, and that is also how the same question is normally asked out loud.

• Je peux payer par carte ?

  Can I pay by card?

• Est-ce que je peux entrer ?

  May I come in?

The inverted puis-je sounds careful and polite. It belongs in a shop, a restaurant, an office or a letter, and it is as much what you say to a waiter as what a receptionist says to you.

02

The Other 'puis'

A word spelt exactly the same means "then", joining one thing to the next in a sequence. It has nothing to do with the verb, and it never carries a hyphen after it.

• On va d'abord au cinéma, puis au parc.

  We are going to the cinema first, then to the park.