podria vs pudiera
Can someone please explain the diffrerence between podria and pudiera, to be used in the context of, could, such as, I wish I could eat? Logically it would be podria, however, in the Spanishdict translator, it always comes up pudiera. Thank you very much! Garrett Valentino
4 Answers
It´s just a matter of conjugation, but not easy to explain although I´m sure Lazarus could easily do so.
Podría ir al concierto mañana si tuviera un boleto, pero mi horario no me permitiría aúnque pudiera comprarlo. (In this case, "pudiera" - past subjuntive is taking the place of "pudiere" - future subjunctive, which is no longer used in common dialogue).
I could go to the concert tomorrow if I had (were to have) a ticket, but my schedule would not allow me to, although I could buy one.
The confusion is most likely from the English "could," which can mean "can" in past tense and "would be able" in future subjunctive tense.
Note: The big bold letters are a computer thing and not intentional.
Can someone please explain the diffrerence between podria and pudiera, to be used in the context of, could, such as, I wish I could eat? Logically it would be podria,...
Logically, each has its own internal logic, so what it works in English does not have to work in other languages. That sentence in particular cannot be translated directly; it would make little sense. An "I wish" in Spanish sounds more like an order, as if you are giving the genie of the lamp a direct order; we would rather say here something like "I would like...", which actually translates more directly as "Me gustaría", using the conditional tense.
The conditional tense is mainly used when you try to make a mental approximation about how things would be if certain conditions were met, but its indirect nature makes it a suitable candidate for polite uses in Spanish, as well as English and many other languages.
So what about the imperfect subjunctive? Like any other subjunctive, it is used for no-declarations in subordinate clauses when the infinitive does not make it clear enough who we are referring to. In "Me gustaría ir", the infinitive "ir" clearly means me, I am the one who wants to go, but if it is someone else the person I would like it to go, then you can't use an infinitive, and any hypothetical or mental no-declaration is done in imperfect subjunctive: "Me gustaría que [tú] fueras".
@Julian: The imperfect in that sentence is not taking the place of the future subjunctive; the language evolved following a rather different path.
Julian is right!
Be careful, the direct translations will not help you one bit and this is why:
Podía = could / was able to (no equivalent tense in)
Pude = could / was able to (no equivalent tense in English)
Podría = could / would be able to (English would half of 2nd conditional phrase)
Pudiera = could / was be able to (English past simple half of 2nd conditional phrase, as Julian pointed out, you can recognize this one because it can be replaced by "were able to" - The past subjunctive in English)
You just need to study the grammar of the different tenses and when they are used, bit by bit.
Thank you everyone for all your great answers! I appreciate it very much!
