Meaning of past tense of poder

Question

In English the past tense of can "could" cannot be used to mean "managed" to do something or "was able to" do something. It can only refer to general ability in the past. For example "I tried three times and eventually I could do it." No. "I tried three times and eventually i was able to do it." Yes.

I'm writing about Daniel O'Connell and how he struggled during his life for rights for Irish people and managed to gain a lot of them.

Can I say

Escribió, habló y abrogó pro derechas para los irlandeses en Irlanda durante todo su vida y pudo cambiar muchas cosas.

Meaning he was able to or he managed. I appreciate it if there is another verb I could use instead, thanks, but I'd also like to know whether this works or not, because knowing that is the point of this question more so than me getting the sentence right.

Thanks for your help!

I could do it yesterday (past ability) I could do it today (present possibility) I could do it tomorrow ( future possibility) - ian-hill, Oct 14, 2011

Could is not the past "tense" of can because can is a Modal and not a verb so can not have tenses. - ian-hill, Oct 14, 2011

nice question - dewclaw, Oct 14, 2011

Ian 1. I understand how can is used in English because it's my native language, I'm asking about the Spanish 2. In my view your second post argues over semantics. Can / Could... Will / Would... May / might.. Have to / Had to. Whatever you want to call it - rabbitwho, Oct 14, 2011

Answer 1

Escribió, habló y abrogó por los derechos de los irlandeses en Irlanda durante toda su vida y logró muchos de ellos.

...y pudo cambiar muchas cosas. = ...and he could change many things.

EDIT:

Oops!

I meant. "...and he would change many things..."

In English that would be completely wrong Chileno, so it can't be a translation if the Spanish sentence isn't wrong. - rabbitwho, Oct 14, 2011

Right! I meant "... and he would change many things." - chileno, Oct 14, 2011

He would change many things works in English. It is kind of short for "he would go on to change many things" thanks! - rabbitwho, Oct 18, 2011

In the end I went with lograr, but I still wonder about the meaning of pude y podía in Spanish. - rabbitwho, Oct 18, 2011

Answer 2

Could is not the past "tense" of can because can is a Modal and not a verb so can not have tenses.

Can is a verb and its past tense is canned.

I canned peaches last week.

Jejeje! - --Mariana--, Oct 14, 2011

Thank you lorenzo. That's really helpful. ;) - rabbitwho, Oct 14, 2011

Answer 3

I would use luchar instead of abrogar, since he fought for the rights rather than abolished them. I agree with chileno on lograr, since he succeeded in accomplishing something.

Answer 4

In English the past tense of can "could" cannot be used to mean "managed" to do something or "was able to" do something. It can only refer to general ability in the past. For example "I tried three times and eventually I could do it." No. "I tried three times and eventually i was able to do it." Yes.

"Eventually I was able to do it" also refers to general ability, which is pretty obvious given the use of the word "able". If you mean to say you accomplished it, you have to say "I tried three times before I did it." or something equivalent.

But that's in English.. I understand English! I wasn't explaining the usage of the English words I was just trying to give an idea of my problem... Are you saying that poder = to be able to? - rabbitwho, Oct 14, 2011