Permettre is the verb to allow, to permit, to make possible — and one of the most-used verbs of permission and enablement in French. Whatever you give someone the right to do, whatever a tool or circumstance enables, whatever you grant in a polite request — permettre is the natural verb. It is also the everyday alternative to the more colloquial laisser (let), with a slightly more formal flavor and a very different syntactic frame.
Conjugation-wise, permettre is a member of the -mettre family: it follows mettre exactly, with the same singular consonant drop in the present (je permets, tu permets, il permet, all /pɛʁ.mɛ/), the same restored double t in the plural (nous permettons, vous permettez, ils permettent), and the same past participle pattern (permis). If you can conjugate mettre, you can conjugate permettre without thinking.
This page is the full reference: the paradigms, the construction with à + person + de + infinitive, the subjunctive after permettre que, the reflexive se permettre, and the high-frequency politeness phrases (vous permettez ?, si vous (me) permettez, permettez-moi de).
The simple tenses
These are the tenses formed without an auxiliary. Permettre shares every paradigm with mettre — only the prefix per- is added.
Présent de l'indicatif
Same hallmark consonant alternation as mettre: the singular forms drop one t in spelling and pronunciation; the plural forms restore both t's.
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | permets | /pɛʁ.mɛ/ |
| tu | permets | /pɛʁ.mɛ/ |
| il / elle / on | permet | /pɛʁ.mɛ/ |
| nous | permettons | /pɛʁ.mɛ.tɔ̃/ |
| vous | permettez | /pɛʁ.mɛ.te/ |
| ils / elles | permettent | /pɛʁ.mɛt/ |
Je te permets de sortir, mais sois rentré avant minuit.
I'll let you go out, but be home before midnight.
Le règlement ne permet pas l'entrée des animaux.
The rules don't permit pets to enter.
Mes parents ne permettent jamais que je dorme chez des amis le dimanche soir.
My parents never let me sleep over at a friend's house on Sunday nights.
Imparfait
Built on the plural stem permett- plus regular imparfait endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | permettais |
| tu | permettais |
| il / elle / on | permettait |
| nous | permettions |
| vous | permettiez |
| ils / elles | permettaient |
Avant, mon ancien patron permettait de télétravailler deux jours par semaine.
My former boss used to allow working from home two days a week.
Quand on était jeunes, nos parents ne nous permettaient pas de regarder la télé en semaine.
When we were young, our parents wouldn't let us watch TV on weekdays.
Passé simple (literary)
Same pattern as mis / mit / mirent — the participle stem doubles as the passé simple stem.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | permis |
| tu | permis |
| il / elle / on | permit |
| nous | permîmes |
| vous | permîtes |
| ils / elles | permirent |
The circumflex on permîmes and permîtes is mandatory in literary writing.
Le roi permit aux paysans de chasser dans la forêt royale. (literary)
The king allowed the peasants to hunt in the royal forest.
Futur simple
Stem permettr- (the infinitive without final -e) plus the regular futur endings. The double t survives.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | permettrai |
| tu | permettras |
| il / elle / on | permettra |
| nous | permettrons |
| vous | permettrez |
| ils / elles | permettront |
Je te permettrai d'y aller seulement si tu finis tes devoirs avant.
I'll let you go only if you finish your homework first.
Cette nouvelle loi permettra à plus de familles d'accéder au logement social.
This new law will enable more families to get access to social housing.
Conditionnel présent
Same permettr- stem as the futur, with imparfait endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | permettrais |
| tu | permettrais |
| il / elle / on | permettrait |
| nous | permettrions |
| vous | permettriez |
| ils / elles | permettraient |
Tu permettrais à ton fils de partir tout seul à l'étranger à seize ans ?
Would you let your son travel abroad alone at sixteen?
Subjonctif présent
Stem permett- (same as imparfait stem), plus standard subjunctive endings. Permettre que itself triggers the subjunctive — see the uses section below.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (que) je | permette |
| (que) tu | permettes |
| (qu')il / elle / on | permette |
| (que) nous | permettions |
| (que) vous | permettiez |
| (qu')ils / elles | permettent |
Il faut que tu permettes à tes enfants de faire leurs propres erreurs.
You have to let your children make their own mistakes.
Impératif
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (tu) | permets |
| (nous) | permettons |
| (vous) | permettez |
The vous-imperative permettez is the bedrock of polite French. Permettez-moi de… (allow me to…) and the standalone permettez ? (may I?) are both extremely high-frequency in formal and semi-formal speech.
Permettez-moi de vous interrompre une seconde.
Allow me to interrupt you for a moment. (formal)
Permettez ? — Je vous en prie.
May I? — Please, go ahead. (formal)
Participles and gérondif
- Participe passé: permis (feminine permise, plural permis / permises)
- Participe présent: permettant
- Gérondif: en permettant
The participle permis is also a noun in French — un permis de conduire (a driver's license), un permis de séjour (a residence permit). The connection is etymologically transparent: a permis is "something that has been allowed."
J'ai eu mon permis du premier coup, j'étais ravi.
I got my driver's license on the first try — I was thrilled.
En permettant le télétravail, l'entreprise a vu sa productivité augmenter.
By allowing remote work, the company saw its productivity rise.
The compound tenses
Permettre uses avoir as its auxiliary in all compound tenses. The participle agrees with a preceding direct object — but in permettre's standard frame, the thing being allowed is most often the de + infinitive complement (not a direct object), and the person being allowed is an indirect object (à + person), so participle agreement is in practice rare with this verb. When it does occur, it is with a preceding que-clause complement realized as a feminine direct object.
Passé composé
avoir (présent) + permis
Le médecin lui a permis de reprendre le sport progressivement.
The doctor allowed him to take up sports again gradually.
Cette bourse m'a permis de financer mes études à Paris.
That scholarship allowed me to pay for my studies in Paris.
On nous a permis d'entrer cinq minutes en avance, c'était sympa.
They let us in five minutes early — that was nice.
Plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, conditionnel passé
The other compound tenses follow the standard avoir + permis pattern.
Si tu m'avais permis de t'aider, on aurait fini en une heure.
If you'd let me help you, we'd have finished in an hour.
J'aurais permis à mon fils d'y aller, mais sa mère a refusé.
I would have let my son go, but his mother said no.
The core uses
1. Permettre à quelqu'un de + infinitif — to allow someone to do something
This is the signature construction of permettre, and it must be memorized as a unit. The person you're allowing is an indirect object (introduced by à), and the action is introduced by de + infinitif. There is no direct-object option for the person.
permettre *à quelqu'un de + infinitif*
Mes parents m'ont permis de partir un an au Canada.
My parents let me go to Canada for a year.
On lui permet de rentrer chez elle le week-end.
They let her go home on weekends.
Permettez à votre enfant d'exprimer ses émotions.
Allow your child to express their emotions.
With pronouns, the à-marked person becomes an indirect-object pronoun (me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur), and de + infinitif stays put:
Tu me permets de finir ma phrase ?
Will you let me finish my sentence?
Je leur permets de jouer une heure après les devoirs.
I let them play for an hour after homework.
2. Permettre à quelque chose de + infinitif — to make something possible
The same syntactic frame works when the subject is inanimate — a tool, a circumstance, an opportunity. The à-marked argument is the entity being enabled; the de + infinitif is what becomes possible. This is the everyday French way to express English X allows Y to / X enables Y to.
Le télétravail permet aux parents de mieux concilier vie pro et vie perso.
Remote work lets parents better balance work and personal life.
Cette application permet de traduire en temps réel.
This app makes it possible to translate in real time.
Le métro permet d'éviter les embouteillages le matin.
The metro lets you avoid traffic in the morning.
A common reduced form is ça me permet de… (that allows me to…), with the inanimate subject ça (that) standing in for whatever circumstance is being discussed:
Travailler à mi-temps, ça me permet de m'occuper de mon père.
Working part-time lets me take care of my father.
Ça nous permettra de faire des économies pour les vacances.
That'll let us save up for our vacation.
3. Permettre que + subjunctive — formal alternative
The construction permettre que + subjunctive is more formal than the à + de + infinitif frame, and is used when the subject of the allowed action is not the same person as the addressee, or when the speaker wants to mark a slightly more elevated tone.
Permettez que je vous présente ma femme, Claire.
Allow me to introduce you to my wife, Claire. (formal)
Le directeur a permis que la réunion soit reportée à demain.
The director allowed the meeting to be postponed to tomorrow.
Je ne permettrai pas qu'on parle ainsi de ma sœur.
I won't allow anyone to speak that way about my sister.
The subjunctive after permettre que is mandatory because permettre expresses a will or grant — the action allowed is not a fact but a granted possibility. This is the core logic of the subjunctive: it marks actions in the realm of will, doubt, and possibility rather than established reality.
4. Se permettre (de) — to take the liberty of, to allow oneself
The reflexive se permettre is "to allow oneself" — used both for indulgences (se permettre un dessert) and, very commonly, for polite preface in formal speech (je me permets de vous écrire pour…). The reflexive uses être in compound tenses, like all reflexives.
Je me permets de vous contacter au sujet de votre annonce.
I'm taking the liberty of writing to you about your ad. (formal email opener)
Aujourd'hui je me suis permis un pain au chocolat, je n'ai pas culpabilisé.
Today I allowed myself a pain au chocolat — I didn't feel guilty about it.
Comment ose-t-il se permettre de me parler sur ce ton ?
How dare he speak to me in that tone? (literally: how does he allow himself to speak to me in that tone?)
The phrase je me permets de… is the standard formal preface in business correspondence — it functions roughly like English I am writing to… / I am taking the liberty of…, and tones down what follows.
5. Vous permettez ? / Tu permets ? — May I?
Used as a standalone request, Vous permettez ? (or informal Tu permets ?) is the polite way to ask permission for a small action — sitting down, taking a chair, lighting a cigarette, getting past someone. It is one of the most useful phrases for everyday social navigation in French.
Vous permettez ? — Je vous en prie. (boarding a packed train, gesturing at a free seat)
May I? — Please do.
Tu permets que je passe ? Je suis très en retard.
Mind if I get past? I'm running really late.
Vous permettez que je m'asseye ?
May I sit down? (formal)
High-frequency idioms and fixed phrases
- si vous (me) permettez — if you'll permit me, if I may (formal preface)
- permettez-moi de
- inf — allow me to (formal)
- je me permets de
- inf — I am taking the liberty of (formal email opener)
- ça permet de
- inf — that allows / enables you to (universal connector)
- autant que faire se peut (related set phrase) — as much as is allowed by circumstances
- cela étant permis (literary) — that being allowed
- tout est permis — anything goes
- il est permis de + inf — one is allowed to, it is permitted to
Si vous me permettez, j'aimerais ajouter une dernière remarque.
If you'll allow me, I'd like to add one final remark.
En vacances, tout est permis : on dort tard, on mange n'importe quoi.
On vacation, anything goes — you sleep late, you eat whatever.
Comparison with English
Three friction points worth flagging:
- The à
- de split.
- person + de
- infinitive — two prepositions, both required. Forgetting either is a stigmatized error.
- Permettre vs laisser. English let covers both meanings; French splits them. Laisser
- bare infinitive (laisse-moi parler — let me speak) is informal and direct. Permettre à… de… is more formal, more abstract, and strictly grammatical. See verbs/causative/laisser-permettre.
- Inanimate subjects with permettre. English often phrases this as X allows you to do Y or X enables Y; French uses permettre with the same frame. La voiture nous permet d'aller plus vite is perfectly natural. English speakers sometimes try to translate this with can (we can go faster), losing the cause-and-effect nuance.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Forgetting the à before the person.
❌ Je permets mon fils de sortir.
Wrong — permettre takes the person as an indirect object, with à. The person is never a direct object.
✅ Je permets à mon fils de sortir.
I let my son go out.
Mistake 2: Forgetting the de before the infinitive.
❌ Mes parents m'ont permis aller au concert.
Wrong — permettre always takes de before the infinitive. The pattern is permettre à X DE + infinitive.
✅ Mes parents m'ont permis d'aller au concert.
My parents let me go to the concert.
Mistake 3: Using permettre + bare infinitive (English structure).
❌ Permets-moi parler avec lui.
Wrong — French requires de: permets-moi DE parler. English-style bare infinitive is impossible after permettre.
✅ Permets-moi de parler avec lui.
Let me speak with him.
Mistake 4: Using indicative after permettre que.
❌ Je ne permets pas qu'il vient ici.
Wrong — permettre que requires the subjunctive: qu'il vienne, not qu'il vient.
✅ Je ne permets pas qu'il vienne ici.
I don't allow him to come here.
Mistake 5: Confusing permettre with laisser in colloquial speech.
❌ Permets-moi tranquille.
Wrong — the fixed phrase is laisse-moi tranquille (leave me alone). Permettre never substitutes for laisser in idioms of this kind.
✅ Laisse-moi tranquille.
Leave me alone.
Key takeaways
Permettre conjugates exactly like mettre: singular consonant drop in the present (je permets, tu permets, il permet), restored double t in the plural (nous permettons, vous permettez, ils permettent), past participle permis. It uses avoir in compound tenses; the reflexive se permettre uses être.
The signature construction is permettre *à quelqu'un de + infinitif — and you must lock both à and *de into memory. The same frame works with inanimate subjects: cette application permet de… (this app makes it possible to…), ça me permet de… (that allows me to…). For higher register or non-coreferential subjects, use permettre que + subjunctive — permettez que je vous présente… (allow me to introduce…). The reflexive se permettre de is a workhorse of polite formal correspondence (je me permets de vous écrire…) and a common phrase for indulging oneself (je me suis permis un dessert). Finally, the standalone request Vous permettez ? is one of the most useful courtesy phrases in French — memorize it.
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- Mettre: Full Verb ReferenceA1 — Mettre is the everyday verb for putting, placing, and putting on — but it also means to take time, to turn on, and (reflexively) to start. This page is the full reference: every paradigm, the core uses, the major idioms, and the family of compounds (permettre, promettre, admettre, soumettre, transmettre).
- Promettre: Full Verb ReferenceA2 — Promettre is the verb to promise — and like its cousin permettre, it conjugates exactly like mettre. The signature construction is promettre à quelqu'un de + infinitif, but it also works as promettre quelque chose à quelqu'un and triggers the subjunctive after promettre que (in negative or interrogative contexts). This page is the full reference: every paradigm, the major uses, the high-frequency idioms (c'est promis, tu me le promets ?, ça promet…), and the reflexive se promettre.
- Admettre: Full Verb ReferenceB1 — Admettre is the verb to admit, accept, acknowledge — and one of the most polarity-sensitive verbs in French. In affirmative form, admettre que takes the indicative (the speaker accepts the proposition as fact). In interrogative or negative form, it takes the subjunctive (the speaker is questioning whether the proposition holds). The set phrase en admettant que also requires the subjunctive. Conjugates exactly like mettre. Past participle: admis.
- Laisser et PermettreB1 — Beyond causative faire: laisser + infinitive ('let X do') and permettre à X de + infinitive ('allow X to do'). Three constructions — faire, laisser, permettre — express cause, allow, and grant permission.
- De vs À with Verbs Before an InfinitiveA2 — When one French verb is followed by another in the infinitive, the link between them is either nothing, the preposition de, or the preposition à. The choice is largely arbitrary and must be memorised verb by verb — but there are patterns and tendencies that make the lists learnable.