Poder Present and Past

Jannice K.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Poder Present and Past

Tú ________ comprar las flores. You could [were able to] buy the flowers.HINT: It refers to a past action
Hi, I dont understand this, should this Hint be ‘You could have/was able to buy the flowers’ to make it a past action.
The correct answers given were ....has podido and pudiste.
I put Podrías which was marked as incorrect.  
Regards
Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Jannice

The hint is telling you to choose the correct conjugate verb/s indicating a past action. The reason we gave this hint is because in English, "could" could be referring to a past action or it could have a different meaning. See these two examples using could:

1. No pude ir al cine ayer. (I could not go to the cinema yesterday.) - past action

2. ¿Podrías venir al cine conmigo? Could you come with me to the cinema? -this is not a past action. This is asking if you "could" come as in "would you be able to come". 

I hope this clarified it.

Inma

Poder Present and Past

Tú ________ comprar las flores. You could [were able to] buy the flowers.HINT: It refers to a past action
Hi, I dont understand this, should this Hint be ‘You could have/was able to buy the flowers’ to make it a past action.
The correct answers given were ....has podido and pudiste.
I put Podrías which was marked as incorrect.  
Regards

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