Tú ________ comprar las flores. You could [were able to] buy the flowers.HINT: It refers to a past action
Hi, I dont understand this, should this Hint be ‘You could have/was able to buy the flowers’ to make it a past action.
The correct answers given were ....has podido and pudiste.
I put Podrías which was marked as incorrect.
Regards
Poder Present and Past
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Jannice K.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Poder Present and Past
This question relates to:Spanish lesson "Using poder in the present perfect and the preterite for "could" in past actions"
Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq
Hola Jannice
The hint is telling you to choose the correct conjugate verb/s indicating a past action. The reason we gave this hint is because in English, "could" could be referring to a past action or it could have a different meaning. See these two examples using could:
1. No pude ir al cine ayer. (I could not go to the cinema yesterday.) - past action
2. ¿Podrías venir al cine conmigo? Could you come with me to the cinema? -this is not a past action. This is asking if you "could" come as in "would you be able to come".
I hope this clarified it.
Inma
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