How would one say "enables" but not "allows"?

Question

I want to say something along the lines of:

"Your encouragement enables him to work harder."

Or

"God enables us to do the right thing."

A lot of dictionaries recommend "permitir," but that doesn't seem to fit the sense. Any recommendations? Would "facilitar" or "habilitar" or "hacer capaz" make more sense?

Thanks!

For God my own theological preference would use "permitir" but for "Your" you should try to pick the one you like from the answers. Wait and see if one of our native Spanish speakers offers a suggestion. - Jubilado, Feb 27, 2016

:) Bonus points for a theological response! - juliansabroad, Feb 27, 2016

I also like "hacer capaz" for both God and people. Tu apoyo le hace capaz... (de?) trabajar más (duro?) or ... de esforzarse. - Jubilado, Feb 27, 2016

Send me a message through my profile and I'll tell you more. - Jubilado, Feb 27, 2016

Answer 1

"enables" could be changed to "makes possible", so maybe...."hacer posible".

Whenever I am stumped I try to find an alternative way of expressing the same idea in English and then translate that to Spanish.

Answer 2

¡Hola!, Juliansabroad:

Consider these two entries from Collins Eng --> Span dictionary:

enables -----> posibilitar

posibilitar ---> enables

It may be what you are looking for.

Answer 3

Well, how do you say your approval? This is a very interesting question!

I'm just trying another approach, what about ' fomentar'? Or desarollar?

Tu visto bueno fomenta// desarolla su capacidad de trabajar/.

Answer 4

both means "permitir" they're synonymes. We don't use "habilitar" with people, we're not robots.

That's helpful to know about the connotation for habilitar. However, enables and allows are definitely not synonyms in English. They have very different meanings. - juliansabroad, Feb 28, 2016