Translating "I need a person who can read"

Question

When I use a translator to translate the sentence "I need a person who can read" it gives me the following translation "Necesito una persona que puede leer."

Shouldn't the translation be "Necesito una persona que PUEDA leer?" because the subject is indefinite so the subjunctive is used?

Thanks!

Welcome to SpanishDict. - rac1, Oct 18, 2015

Answer 1

Your answer: "Necesito una persona que pueda leer." is correct. But I, (and I believe) other native Spanish speakers would prefer the verb "saber." "que sepa leer" is what I would use. But you have the right idea on the proper use of the subjunctive. You can't always trust electronic translators. They are good for vocabulary, but they have problems with grammar.

Buena suerte.

I agree, from everything I have seen, powder would imply capacity, saber knowledge. No puede leer could be used for a blind person, or in situations of insufficient light, or such. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 18, 2015

The stupid autocorrect switched my poder to powder. - bosquederoble, Oct 18, 2015

I totally detest autocorrect. Ugh! - Daniela2041, Oct 18, 2015

Answer 2

When we learnt English at the school, the teacher said us that the verb can is translated as poder, except in the cases that we talk about an ability, such as play any sport or ride anything (bike, horse,..) and many others.

In this case, we use to translate the verb can as saber or tener la capacidad de.

Examples:

My son can swim -> Mi hijo sabe nadar

Humans cannot flight -> Los humanos no tienen la capacidad de volar

Nice, txta. - annierats, Oct 19, 2015