Puede/puedo, stumped on "answer"...
I am learning spanish through Rosettastone, and I am stumped on a particular scenario they have presented. There is a little girl asking her father "Puede leer el libro?" At first I was confused by that since I was taking that to mean they were talking about someone else not in the picture reading the book, but then I figured out she must be addressing her father as Usted? So, my first question is do children address their parents as Usted since they are in authority, even though they are familiar?
The second half of my question involves the response the father gives, which makes no sense to me. He says "No, no puede leerlo." I'm very confused by this, wouldn't that be "No, you can't read it"? If he wanted to say "No, I can't read it" wouldn't it be "No, no puedo leerlo"? (The original question to me looked like she was asking her father if he could read her a book, not if she was asking her father if SHE could read a book to herself...). Can someone help me out?
3 Answers
mmmh maybe
e.g:
Little girl: '¿Mi hermano(or 'él') puede leer el libro?'
Authoritarian father - 'No, tu hermano (or 'él') no puede leer el libro'
If a child calls to his father in a formal manner (usted), it's because he is authoritarian father hehe 
If she was asking the father to read the book to her, in English it would pretty much like:
Can you read me this book? and not Can you read this book. Correct?
Check that out.
Hello Belc,
Welcome to the SpanishDict forum
Regarding the first question , it is common in Latin American countries such as Colombia for sons and daughters to address their parents using the Usted form and for other members of the family to address each other using this same Usted form . This contrasts with Spain where the familiar form is commonly used between friends and members of the family. This is just a cultural preference.
Without more context it is not possible to be totally certain, but the verb poder (to be able) in the 3rd person singular puede can refer to him /her, or you (singular, polite) The absence of any personal pronouns for clarification leaves it open as to whether the girl is referring to her father or a sibling (brother/sister)
I agree with Chileno and thiink that if she had been asking her father to read her the book she would have asked
¿Puede leerme el libro? = Can you read me the book/Can you rea the book to me?
So, following Pablo's line of thinking, she could be asking her father on behalf of her siblings if he (her brother) or she (her sister) could read the book or there could even be an error and she is really wanting to say, ¿Puedo leer el libro? The fact that a language course is professionally designed and costly (expensive) too like Rosetta Stone does not guarantee that it will be free from errors, although having said that, I would be very surprised if such a potentially basic error had not been proof read and edited out!
If you could add any of the rest of the text just immediately before or after this question by the girl, this might help to shed some light . Context is critical in providing accurate translation. 
I hope this helps
