Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous.

You can still come to the café with us.

Breakdown of Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous.

• tu: you
• avec: with
• pouvoir: to be able to
• nous: us
• au: to the
• venir: to come
• le café: the café
• encore: even

Questions & Answers about Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous.

Why is it tu peux and not tu peut?

Because peux is the correct form of the verb pouvoir (to be able to / can) for je and tu in the present tense.

Present tense of pouvoir:

• je peux – I can
• tu peux – you can (singular, informal)
• il / elle / on peut – he / she / one can
• nous pouvons – we can
• vous pouvez – you can (plural or formal)
• ils / elles peuvent – they can

So with tu, you must use peux, never peut.
Peut goes only with il / elle / on.

What exactly is peux doing in this sentence?

Peux is a modal-like verb here, similar to English can.

Structure:

• tu peux (you can / you are able to)
• venir (come)

So tu peux venir = you can come.

In French, this is formed as pouvoir (conjugated) + infinitive:

• Je peux venir. – I can come.
• Nous pouvons partir. – We can leave.
• Ils peuvent aider. – They can help.

Why is encore in the middle: tu peux encore venir? Could we say tu peux venir encore?

The most natural place for encore here is between the conjugated verb (peux) and the infinitive (venir):
Tu peux encore venir...

This position is standard for many adverbs in French:

• Je vais souvent au café.
• Nous pouvons toujours essayer.
• Ils veulent encore parler.

Tu peux venir encore is not wrong grammatically, but:

• It sounds less natural in this context.
• At the end of the sentence, encore is more likely to be understood as again rather than still, depending on context.

So for the meaning You can still come to the café with us, Tu peux encore venir is the preferred, clear, idiomatic word order.

What does encore mean here, and how do I know it means “still” and not “again”?

Encore has several common meanings:

• still (something is still true / possible)
• again (repetition)
• more (additional quantity: encore du café ? – more coffee?)

In Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous, encore = still:

• The idea is: it is still possible (it’s not too late, the invitation is still valid).

How to recognize still vs again?

• Context: here, it’s an invitation about possibility and time, so still fits naturally.
• Word order and situation often help. For “again” you’d usually have clear context of repetition:
  Tu peux encore venir could mean You can come again if the context is “You already came once, and it’s allowed again,” but that’s less common than still in everyday use.

Without context, encore can be ambiguous, but in this kind of invitation, learners should default to still.

Why is it venir (to come) and not aller (to go) here?

French and English align here:

• Venir = to come (towards where the speaker is or will be).
• Aller = to go (movement to some place, not necessarily where the speaker is).

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about going to the café together with the person:

• Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous.
  = You can still come (join us) at the café.

If the speaker were already at the café and inviting someone to join them there, venir still works, just like in English:

• “Come to the café (where I am).”

Aller would be more like focusing on the movement itself, not on joining:

• Tu peux aller au café. – You can go to the café. (no idea of “with us” or “towards us”)

What does au café mean exactly, and why not à le café?

Au is a contraction of à + le.

Rules:

• à + le → au
• à + les → aux
• à + la → à la (no change)
• à + l’ → à l’ (no change)

So:

• à + le café → au café

Au café can mean:

• to the café (destination)
• at the café (location)

French à often covers both English to and at, and context decides which translation fits better. Here, because of venir, it’s understood as to the café (to be with us there).

Could au café also mean “at the coffee shop / in the café”?

Yes. Depending on context:

• On va au café. – We’re going to the café. (destination)
• On est au café. – We are at the café. (current location)

In your sentence:

• Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous.
  Focus is on the movement (come to where we will be / are), so in English we usually translate it as to the café, but the idea is still “join us at the café”.

Why is it avec nous and not something like nous venir or venir nous?

In French, after prepositions like avec (with), pour (for), sans (without), you must use stress pronouns (also called disjunctive pronouns):

• moi – me
• toi – you (singular, informal)
• lui – him
• elle – her
• nous – us
• vous – you (plural/formal)
• eux – them (masc.)
• elles – them (fem.)

So:

• avec nous = with us
• avec toi = with you
• avec eux = with them

You cannot attach nous directly to venir in this context:
✗ venir nous (meaning come us) is incorrect here.
The standard expression is venir avec nous – “come with us.”

Could I omit encore and just say Tu peux venir au café avec nous?

Yes.

Tu peux venir au café avec nous. = You can come to the café with us.

If you add encore, you add the nuance still:

• Tu peux venir au café avec nous. – You can come…
• Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous. – You can still come… (it’s not too late / the invitation is still open)

So encore changes the nuance: it suggests there was a limit in time or possibility, and that limit has not yet been reached.

How would this sentence look in formal or plural “you” (vous)?

Formal/plural version:

• Vous pouvez encore venir au café avec nous.

Changes:

• tu → vous
• peux → pouvez (conjugation with vous)

Everything else stays the same:

• Vous pouvez encore venir au café avec nous.
  = You (formal/plural) can still come to the café with us.

How would I turn this into a yes/no question in French?

Several common options, from most formal to most casual:

1. Est-ce que question:

   • Est-ce que tu peux encore venir au café avec nous ?

2. Inversion (more formal/written):

   • Peux-tu encore venir au café avec nous ?

3. Intonation only (very common in speech):

   • Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous ?
     (Say it with a rising question intonation.)

All three mean: Can you still come to the café with us?

How would I make this sentence negative: “You can’t still come to the café with us / You can no longer come…”?

Two main ideas in English:

1. You can no longer / can’t anymore come…
   → In French: Tu ne peux plus venir au café avec nous.

   • ne … plus = no longer / not anymore

2. You still can’t come…
   → In French: Tu ne peux toujours pas venir au café avec nous.

   • ne … pas = not
   • toujours pas = still not

So:

• Tu ne peux plus venir au café avec nous. – You can’t come anymore / you can no longer come.
• Tu ne peux toujours pas venir au café avec nous. – You still can’t come to the café with us.

Can I replace tu peux encore venir with an imperative, like viens?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Tu peux encore venir au café avec nous.
  = You can still come to the café with us.
  (stating a possibility / permission)

• Viens encore au café avec nous.
  = Come again to the café with us. (or “Still come to the café with us,” depending on context)
  Here viens is an imperative (a direct invitation / command).

If you want a simple, friendly invitation in the imperative for “Come to the café with us,” you’d say:

• Viens au café avec nous.

That’s closer to “Come to the café with us,”
while Tu peux encore venir… emphasizes that it is still possible / allowed.