Conjugation of permetre

Permetre means “to allow, permit” and, with an inanimate subject, “to make possible.” Its present is transparent (permeto, permets, permet), but two forms reveal its family: future permetré drops the final vowel of the infinitive, and the participle is irregular permès. Compare metre → mès, admetre → admès, permetre → permès.

English often hides who receives permission: “They allowed us to leave.” Catalan can mark that person with a stressed phrase or an indirect-object clitic: ens van permetre sortir. When the subject talks about what they can afford, the verb becomes pronominal: no em puc permetre un taxi. These patterns are related, but permetre is not reflexive in its ordinary “allow” use.

For the broader morphology behind these forms, compare the guide to future stems and the overview of irregular participles.

Nonfinite forms

After haver, the participle is normally invariable: han permès dues excepcions. In passive or adjectival use it agrees: dues excepcions permeses. Central permès has an open stressed vowel, written with a grave accent; (regional: Valencian) standard permés has an acute accent.

Permetre is not defective: all six persons are available throughout the productive indicative and subjunctive paradigms, and the usual five addressee forms occur in the imperative.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

The future and conditional use permetr-, not permetre-. Everyday narration normally uses the periphrastic past; the simple past is especially (formal/literary) in Central Catalan and remains more active in several regional varieties. Present permetem and permeteu also serve as present subjunctive and imperative forms; syntax, not spelling, identifies the mood.

Indicative: compound tenses

The synthetic past anterior is mainly (formal/literary). The periphrastic anterior is vaig haver permès, vas haver permès, va haver permès, vam haver permès, vau haver permès, van haver permès. In every compound, the weak pronoun precedes the finite auxiliary: M'ho han permès, never han permès-m'ho.

Subjunctive: simple and compound forms

The periphrastic subjunctive past is vagi permetre, vagis permetre, vagi permetre, vàgim permetre, vàgiu permetre, vagin permetre; its anterior inserts haver permès. These forms are not defective, though the periphrastic subjunctive series has restricted (regional/formal) use.

Imperative and weak pronouns

Affirmative commands attach clitics (permet-me, permeteu-los-ho); negative commands put them before the verb (no m'ho permetis). Commands with permetre often function as polite requests rather than literal permission-giving.

Who is allowed to do what?

With one subject, permetre + infinitive names the allowed activity: el programa permet editar el document. With a human recipient, Catalan commonly adds an indirect object: la tutora li permet sortir abans. A full phrase may appear with a—permeten als residents aparcar al pati—and the clitic is li/els, not a direct-object el/els referring to the person.

When the subordinate action has its own explicitly presented subject, permetre que + subjunctive is the clearest construction: permet que els residents aparquin. The subjunctive reflects a permitted possibility, not an asserted event. The bare-infinitive pattern and the finite clause can describe the same authorization, but their syntax is not interchangeable word for word.

An inanimate subject often translates English “enable”: aquesta opció permet recuperar versions anteriors. Catalan does not need an extra equivalent of “to be able to” because permetre already expresses the enabling relation. A proposition is replaced by neutral ho: El contracte ho permet. A location or abstract complement introduced by a may be resumed by hi: No permeten accedir al terrat → No hi permeten accedir.

Pronominal permetre's means “to allow oneself” or, very often with poder, “to afford”: em permeto discrepar (formal), no ens podem permetre unes vacances tan cares. Here the clitic refers to the subject and cannot simply be removed. Ordinary authorization remains nonpronominal: la cap ens permet sortir, not la cap es permet sortir unless the boss is allowing herself to leave.

(Regional: Valencian) the standard series includes first-person present permet, participle permés, present subjunctive permeta, permetes, permeta, permetem, permeteu, permeten, and imperfect permetera.... These belong to a coherent Valencian paradigm and should not be mixed randomly with Central permeto, permès, permeti.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

Use permeto in the Central present, contracted permetré in the future, and irregular permès in compound tenses. Permission can be expressed as permetre a algú + infinitive or permetre que + subjunctive. Weak ho replaces an allowed proposition, while pronominal permetre's is reserved for allowing oneself or affording something.