Tu peux entrer maintenant, il fait froid dehors.

Tu is the informal singular way to say you in French. It is used with:

• friends
• family
• children
• people you know well
• someone you are speaking to casually

If you wanted to be more formal or polite, or if you were speaking to more than one person, you would usually use vous:

• Vous pouvez entrer maintenant, il fait froid dehors.

So this sentence sounds natural in a familiar, informal situation.

It can mean both, depending on context.

• you can = ability
• you may = permission

In this sentence, Tu peux entrer maintenant most naturally means You can come in now in the sense of permission or invitation.

French pouvoir often covers both ideas, where English may distinguish between can and may more clearly.

Because it comes after the conjugated verb peux from pouvoir.

In French, when one verb follows another verb like pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, or aimer, the second verb is usually in the infinitive:

• tu peux entrer = you can enter / come in
• je veux partir = I want to leave
• nous devons attendre = we must wait

So peux is the conjugated verb, and entrer stays in its base form.

Peux is the tu form of the verb pouvoir in the present tense.

Present tense of pouvoir:

• je peux
• tu peux
• il/elle/on peut
• nous pouvons
• vous pouvez
• ils/elles peuvent

Since the subject is tu, the correct form is peux.

Entrer literally means to enter or to go in.

In this sentence, natural English often uses come in rather than enter, because someone is being invited inside:

• Tu peux entrer maintenant.
  = You can come in now.

So the basic meaning is enter, but the most natural translation in context may be come in.

Because entrer focuses on the action of going inside.

• entrer = to enter / go in
• venir = to come

French often uses entrer where English prefers come in. So even though English uses come, French is really expressing the idea of entering.

You could think of it like this:

• French: enter
• English: come in

They match in context, even if the literal verbs differ.

Maintenant means now.

It comes after the verb phrase here:

• Tu peux entrer maintenant.

That word order is very normal in French. It emphasizes that the person was perhaps waiting before, but now the situation has changed.

French adverbs like maintenant are often fairly flexible, but this placement is especially natural.

Compare:

• Tu peux maintenant entrer.
• Tu peux entrer maintenant.

Both are possible, but the second one is more common and natural in everyday speech.

Because French uses faire in many weather and temperature expressions.

• il fait froid = it is cold
• il fait chaud = it is hot
• il fait beau = the weather is nice
• il fait mauvais = the weather is bad

This is an idiomatic structure. Literally, il fait froid is something like it makes cold, but you should learn it as a fixed expression meaning it’s cold.

C’est froid usually means that is cold or it is cold when talking about a specific thing, like food, water, or an object:

• Le café est froid. = The coffee is cold.
• Dehors, il fait froid. = Outside, it’s cold.

In il fait froid, il does not refer to a specific thing. It is an impersonal subject, similar to English it in weather expressions:

• It is cold
• It is raining

French requires a subject pronoun, so il is used even though it does not stand for a person or object here.

Dehors means outside.

In this sentence, it works as an adverb, describing where it is cold:

• il fait froid dehors = it’s cold outside

No preposition is needed because dehors already carries the idea of outside.

Compare:

• dehors = outside
• à l’extérieur = outside / outdoors / on the exterior

Both can work, but dehors is very common and natural in everyday speech.

The sentence has two linked ideas:

• Tu peux entrer maintenant
• il fait froid dehors

Putting them side by side with a comma is a natural way to connect them in French, especially in speech or simple writing. The second part gives the reason or explanation.

It is a bit like saying:

• You can come in now; it’s cold outside.

You could also say:

• Tu peux entrer maintenant parce qu’il fait froid dehors.

That version makes the cause-and-effect relationship more explicit with because. Both are correct, but the original sentence sounds direct and natural.

Dehors is pronounced approximately like duh-or.

A few useful points:

• the final s is usually silent
• the de- is not pronounced like English dee
• the second syllable is stressed much less than in English, because French stress patterns are different

A rough IPA pronunciation is /dəɔʁ/.

A careful pronunciation is roughly:

Tu peux entrer maintenant, il fait froid dehors.
IPA: /ty pø ɑ̃tʁe mɛ̃t(ə)nɑ̃, il fɛ fʁwa dəɔʁ/

A few things learners often notice:

• tu sounds like ty, with a French u sound that does not exist in standard English
• peux sounds like puh but with rounded lips: /pø/
• entrer begins with a nasal vowel: en-
• froid sounds like frwa
• the final consonants in peux and dehors are silent

Yes, a French speaker could definitely say this. It sounds natural.

Some close alternatives are:

• Tu peux entrer, il fait froid dehors.
• Entre, il fait froid dehors.
• Tu peux rentrer maintenant, il fait froid dehors.

The differences are small:

• Tu peux entrer... = more like granting permission
• Entre... = a direct command/invitation: Come in
• rentrer can suggest coming back in or going inside, depending on context

So the original sentence is perfectly normal, especially if someone has been waiting outside and is now being invited in.