"I was not able to remember her name"

Question

"no pude recordar su nombre" or would it be..."no podía recordar su nombre". I think it should be the latter but I'm not sure why? Please could somebody good at grammar help me? Thanks V

Answer 1

The two sentences are grammatically well written. In the first sentence you're saying that you really wasn't able to remember her name, in the second one you may imply that you couldn't remember her name just for that moment. The literal answer for "I was not able to remember her name" is "No pude recordar su nombre". But depending on the circumstance both sentences could mean the same thing since they are valid in spanish.

thanks very much - vic5x5, May 7, 2012

Answer 2

literally "no fui capaz de recordadr su nombre"

Answer 3

No pude recordar su nombre

but

both sound good