podía, pudo

Sherri ..C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

podía, pudo

This seems to me to be too ambiguous (or maybe too subtle) to be used in a lesson.

Gabriel no podía meter las llaves en la cerradura anoche.
Carlos couldn't put the keys in the keyhole last night.

Without additional information, it appears that it could be either way, depending on the reader’s interpretation.

Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Sherri,

in higher levels you will always find little nuances that need to be learned, as in any other language. We consider that learning these nuances will make students understand the language. The sentence used in this lesson is something used in Spain all the time. It shows you how the rules that are learned as general rules, e.g. using the preterite with adverbs like anoche, el otro día., etc... admit some flexibility, depending on what the speaker wants to express more precisely.

Un saludo cordial.

Inma

Sherri .. asked:

podía, pudo

This seems to me to be too ambiguous (or maybe too subtle) to be used in a lesson.

Gabriel no podía meter las llaves en la cerradura anoche.
Carlos couldn't put the keys in the keyhole last night.

Without additional information, it appears that it could be either way, depending on the reader’s interpretation.

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