poder

Question

Hola:

Sé que 'poder' traduce como 'to be able', pero siempre tengo problemas entendiendo 'pudiendo' y 'podido'.

Por favor, me dice qué es la traducción por estas palabras.

Gracias,
Martyn.

Answer 1

'pudiendo = being able', and 'podido = been able' is what I needed to see.

I get present and past participles with practically every other verb, I just couldn't think for the life of me how 'pudiendo' and 'podido' translate.

But now I know - thank you.

Answer 2

If you're thinking of some form of "estar" + "pudiendo" to form a progressive tense, the basic meaning of "poder" makes it difficult to construct a sentence. Since the progressive tenses serve to emphasize the "action in progress" idea, whereas, being able to do something is more of state that you're in. The past participle, on the other hand, is pretty straightforward. consider "Gracias a mi empleo he podido viasitar a muchos países." = "Thanks to my job, I've been able to visit many countries."

Answer 3

It's confusing in English, because as Lazarus shows, to go to the participle or past participle of the verb can, we using able. We don't say can-ing or can-ed (unless, of course, we are canning vegetables for the winter).

lazarus1907 said:

Same as any other verb, Martyn: with -ndo = -ing

comiendo = eating

bebiendo = drinking

pudiendo = being able

with -do = -en

comido = eaten

bebido = drinken (the correct irrgular form is "drunk")

podido = been able

>

Answer 4

Sorry - I wasn't clear - I know what those words are in relation to 'poder', but I don't know what they mean in English.

Eg, puedo = I can, but what is the English equivalent of 'pudiendo' and 'podido'?

Perhaps I'm being dim, but like I say I've always had trouble with 'poder'.

Thanks.

Answer 5

They are the present participle and the past participle of the verb "poder", like "writing" and "written" for the verb "to write".