Short answer. Yes. Article 756 expressly allows it: you may donate the ownership of your house to one person and the usufruct — the right to use and enjoy it — to another or others. The single condition is that all the donees be living at the time the donation is made.
What the law says
The ownership of property may also be donated to one person and the usufruct to another or others, provided all the donees are living at the time of the donation.
Civil Code, Article 756 — Separate Donation Of Ownership And Usufruct. Read the full provision →
Ownership and usufruct can go to different people
Property rights can be split, and the law lets a donor split them by gift. Article 756 provides: The ownership of property may also be donated to one person and the usufruct to another or others, provided all the donees are living at the time of the donation. Ownership is the bundle of rights over the thing; usufruct is the right to use it and enjoy its fruits while someone else holds ownership. So you can give your house to one person as owner and, at the same time, give another person the right to live in it or draw income from it. The two donations sit side by side.
What each donee receives
The owner-donee — often called the naked owner — receives ownership but, during the usufruct, without the immediate right to use or enjoy the property. The usufructuary-donee receives the right to use the house and take its fruits, such as rent, for the duration set. This is a practical way to provide for two people at once: for instance, giving the property itself to a child while letting a relative live in or benefit from it. Each donee's right is real, but they are different rights, and they must respect one another.
The condition: all donees living at the donation
The article attaches one clear requirement: all the donees are living at the time of the donation. Every person receiving ownership or usufruct must already be alive when the donation is made. A donation is a present act of liberality, so the recipients must exist to accept it. This is not the place for benefiting persons not yet born or otherwise not in being at that moment. If a would-be donee is not living at the time of the donation, that person cannot take under this arrangement, and the gift to them fails.
Why structure a gift this way
Separating ownership from usufruct lets a donor meet more than one goal in a single stroke. You can secure the property's long-term ownership in the person you want to end up with it, while ensuring someone else has the use and benefit of it in the meantime. When the usufruct ends, the owner's rights become full and unencumbered. Because these are distinct interests that will interact for years, the terms — especially the usufruct's duration and scope — should be set out clearly in the deed of donation to avoid later conflict between the donees.