Irregular Phrases?
I go across thinking of the phrase, ¿Puedo ir al baño por favor?" everyday and thinking-- "Why isn't ir conjugated? al makes sense, to the, baño also makes sense. Obviously por favor makes sense; please. Take away puedo ir, and you get al baño por favor. "To the bathroom please." Needs more to be a question. So add puedo. "May I to the bathroom?" obviously doesn't make sense. Puedo, not podo (sounds weird, right?)
If translated purely, it would mean, "May I to go to the bathroom please?" and that doesn't make sense. 'Voy' is the correct irregular conjugation of the present tense of ir, once again, to go. "'¿Puedo voy al bano por favor?" is the correct way to go, but it sounds weird. Once again, Spanish can be weird.
4 Answers
Just a thought: Don’t you think it is English that is weird?
Drop the please:
¿Puedo ir al baño? May I to go to the bathroom? Or Am I able to go to the bathroom? Or would you allow me to go to the bathroom. (¿Me permitirías ir al baño, might be a version that is closer to that)
Two out of three take the word "to" before go- it is May/can that is the outlier.
Try sentences not questions
I want to go to the bathroom. Quiero ir al baño.
I need to go to the bathroom. Necesito ir al baño
I can go to the bathroom. Puedo ir al baño. I am able to go to the bathroom.
Once again May/can in English seems the pattern breaker. Elsewhere we use "to go"
I am not an English grammarian, maybe one can explain why may/can breaks the norm.
Think of "poder" as "to be able to". "Puedo" would be "I am able to". "¿Puedo?" would be "Am I able to?"
— ¿Puedo irme al baño? "Can I go to the bathroom?"
— No sé. ¿Puedes? "I don't know. Can you?"
You must think of what you say in English. You want to say, "May I go to the bathroom?"
Answering Bosque's question, firstly you are right, English is weird, but what is happening with "can" versus the others is, as Dani suggests, because "can" is a modal verb. Modal verbs are identifiable like this (I'll use "can" as an example of a modal, and "need" as an example of a regular verb):
They are followed by infinitives without to: I can go to the bathroom - I need to go to the bathroom.
They can't be used in questions using the "Do" form: Do you can go to the bathroom? [wrong] - Do you need to go to the bathroom? [right].
They don't change form (add an -s / -es) for the third person singular: He can go to the bathroom - He needs to go to the bathroom.
Modal verbs typically request permission or express ability, possibility, or obligation. They include: Can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, and must.
They also include "need" which can be used as both a regular verb or a modal verb. It's use in modal form is a little archaic but it does highlight the differences between modal and regular verbs. In our above examples it is being used in its regular form to express a requirement:
I need to go to the bathroom.
However, it can also be used in modal form to express a possible obligation.
Need I go to the bathroom?
You'll notice how in modal form the "to" is dropped, a "Do" question cannot be formed, "Do need I go? [wrong]" and the verb doesn't take an -s for third person singular: "Need he go?"
In Spanish as in English when two verbs come together in a sentence, we conjugate the first one and leave the second one in the infinitive. The only difference is that with the English we leave off the "to"
When used as a question "Puedo" --"I can" means either "Can I" or "May I"
In English you don't say "May I , I go to the bathroom?
So In Spanish you don/t say "¿puedo voy al baño" It sounds really dumb.
Using a different verb other than "ir"
"¿Puedo salir" ahora? May/can I leave now? NOT "¿Puedo salgo ahora?" That's
like saying "May I, I leave now?
So with other verbs like poder, "necesitar" "deber" "querer" etc. You always conjugate the first verb and leave the second one in the infinitive.
Ahora quiero dejar este tema y buscar más preguntas que contestar.
