Learn French: Vous pourriez aller au guichet, s'il vous plaît ?

Vous pourriez aller au guichet, s'il vous plaît ?

Could you go to the counter, please?

Breakdown of Vous pourriez aller au guichet, s'il vous plaît ?

vous

you (plural/formal)

to the / at the (masculine singular)

Questions & Answers about Vous pourriez aller au guichet, s'il vous plaît ?

Why use pourriez instead of the present tense pouvez?

Pourriez is the conditional form of pouvoir (can/to be able to), translating to "could". Just like in English, using "could you" instead of "can you" makes a request much softer and more polite.

Why is aller in its dictionary form instead of being conjugated?

When you combine two verbs together like this, only the first verb (pourriez) gets conjugated. The second verb (aller) stays in its full, unconjugated infinitive form.

Why is it au guichet and not à le guichet?

The word guichet is a masculine noun. In French, the preposition à (to/at) and the masculine word for "the" (le) always combine to become au. You will never see à le written together.

What exactly is a guichet?

A guichet is a counter, ticket office, or teller window. You will see this word a lot when you need to be served by a staff member at places like train stations, post offices, and banks.

If I am talking to a friend, can I say tu pourrais aller au guichet, s'il vous plaît?