I don't want to quibble about details with native teachers but I was puzzled by the tip box at the bottom of this lesson saying "Remember that after poder(conjugated in any tense) you will always find an infinitive. "
I'm unsure what to make of this given that I have not always found an infinitive after poder. The example that immediately came to mind was "No puedo más." Which I stuck out in my mind precisely because I found it odd that "puedo" was NOT followed by another verb.
Hola Sky
You're right in saying that sometimes this is not the case, and your example shows it. "No puedo más." is an expression to say "I can't [do this] anymore". This is quite specific.
You can also reply to someone asking you to go with them somewhere, for example, by simply responding "No puedo." (I can't.):
-¿Vamos mañana al cine?
- No puedo. Tengo un examen y tengo que estudiar.
Here, we are also simplifying it by omitting part of the sentence: "No puedo [ir contigo al cine mañana]."
Poder on its own doesn't mean any more than "can/be able to". This is why it doesn't work on its own unless there is something else implicit with no need to mention after it, as showing in those examples above.
I hope this clarified it.
Saludos
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