Poder + infinitivo is the Spanish modal you reach for whenever English would use can, could, may, might, or be able to. Puedo ayudarte, ¿puedo pasar?, podemos hacerlo mañana. It covers ability, possibility, and permission all at once — and the verb itself is irregular, which is why every A1 learner ends up drilling it. This page lays out the conjugation, the meanings, the polite uses, and the one big trap that English speakers fall into: the difference between poder (capacity, permission) and saber (acquired skill).
The structure
Two pieces:
Note: unlike tener que and hay que, poder takes the infinitive without any preposition between them. No que, no de, no a. Just poder + infinitive.
| Subject | poder (present) |
| Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | puedo | puedo nadar | I can swim |
| tú | puedes | puedes nadar | you can swim |
| él / ella / usted | puede | puede nadar | he/she/you (formal) can swim |
| nosotros / nosotras | podemos | podemos nadar | we can swim |
| vosotros / vosotras | podéis | podéis nadar | you (all) can swim |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | pueden | pueden nadar | they / you (formal plural) can swim |
Puedo ayudarte con la mudanza el sábado.
I can help you with the move on Saturday.
¿Puedes pasarme la sal, por favor?
Can you pass me the salt, please?
Podéis venir cuando queráis, estamos en casa todo el día.
You (all) can come whenever you want, we're home all day.
The conjugation: where the o → ue change happens
Poder is an o → ue stem-changing verb. The stem vowel o becomes ue in the forms where it carries the stress, and stays o in the forms where the stress falls on the ending.
- Stressed stem (vowel changes): yo puedo, tú puedes, él puede, ellos pueden.
- Unstressed stem (vowel stays o): nosotros podemos, vosotros podéis.
This pattern is identical to dormir → duermo, volver → vuelvo, encontrar → encuentro. Once you recognise the shape, you can predict all the other o → ue verbs.
The vosotros form podéis (po-DÉIS) carries a written accent on the é and stays in two syllables — you will use it constantly in Spain.
¿Podéis hablar más bajo? El bebé está durmiendo.
Can you (all) speak more quietly? The baby is sleeping.
The three meanings of poder
Poder + infinitivo covers three distinct meanings that English splits with different modals. Spanish lets context disambiguate.
1. Ability ("can / am able to")
The speaker has the capacity to do something — physical, mental, situational.
No puedo levantar esta caja, pesa demasiado.
I can't lift this box, it's too heavy.
Mi abuela tiene noventa años y todavía puede caminar tres kilómetros al día.
My grandmother is ninety and can still walk three kilometres a day.
2. Possibility ("might / may")
Something is possible, but not certain. English uses might or may; Spanish uses poder with no special marker.
Mañana puede llover, mejor coge el paraguas.
It might rain tomorrow, better take an umbrella.
Puede que llegue tarde, hay mucho tráfico.
I might arrive late, there's a lot of traffic.
The second example uses the construction puede que + subjunctive, a very common Spanish way to say "maybe / it's possible that..." The subject is impersonal puede (just like hay); the que introduces a subjunctive clause.
3. Permission ("may / can")
Asking for or granting permission. This is the most frequent use in everyday conversation.
¿Puedo pasar?
May I come in?
No puedes aparcar aquí, está prohibido.
You can't park here, it's forbidden.
¿Podemos sentarnos en esta mesa?
Can we sit at this table?
In all three uses, the construction is identical: conjugated poder + infinitive. The meaning is teased out from context.
The big trap: poder vs saber for skills
This is the single biggest mistake English speakers make with poder. In English, "I can swim" is ambiguous:
- I have the skill (I learned to swim, I'm a swimmer).
- I am physically able to swim right now (the water isn't freezing, I'm not injured).
English uses the same "can" for both. Spanish splits them:
- Sé nadar = I know how to swim (I have the acquired skill).
- Puedo nadar = I can swim (right now, in this situation — the pool is open, I'm healthy).
The general rule: for an acquired skill that you learned and now possess permanently, Spanish uses saber. For a situational ability that depends on circumstances, Spanish uses poder.
Sé hablar tres idiomas.
I can speak three languages. (acquired skill — I learned them)
No puedo hablar ahora, estoy en una reunión.
I can't speak right now, I'm in a meeting. (situational)
Mi hijo ya sabe leer.
My son can read already. (he has learned to read)
No puedo leer sin gafas.
I can't read without my glasses. (situational ability)
¿Sabes conducir?
Can you drive? (do you have the skill / a licence?)
¿Puedes conducir tú esta noche? Yo he bebido.
Can you drive tonight? I've been drinking. (situational request)
Telling a Spaniard puedo nadar when you mean "I know how to swim" is intelligible but odd — it sounds like you are talking about the present moment's circumstances rather than your lifelong ability. Sé nadar is what they expect.
Polite requests: ¿puedes...?, ¿podrías...?
Poder is the workhorse of polite requests in Spain. Three levels of politeness, from neutral to very polite:
- ¿Puedes...? — neutral, friendly. The everyday way to ask someone to do something.
- ¿Podrías...? — more polite. The conditional softens the request to a hypothetical.
- ¿Podría usted...? — formal, with the usted address and the conditional. Used in formal settings.
¿Puedes cerrar la ventana?
Can you close the window?
¿Podrías ayudarme con esto un momento?
Could you help me with this for a moment?
¿Podría usted decirme dónde está la salida?
Could you tell me where the exit is?
The conditional form is built on the irregular stem podr-: podría, podrías, podría, podríamos, podríais, podrían. Note that the e of the infinitive drops out — poder loses its e in the future and conditional, becoming podré, podrás, podrá... and podría, podrías, podría...
Si tuviera más tiempo, podría aprender chino.
If I had more time, I could learn Chinese.
Podríamos ir al cine esta noche.
We could go to the cinema tonight.
Pronoun placement
Object and reflexive pronouns follow the same rule as with other verb + infinitive constructions: either before poder or attached to the infinitive. Both are equally correct.
Te puedo ayudar si quieres.
I can help you if you want. (pronoun before poder)
Puedo ayudarte si quieres.
I can help you if you want. (pronoun attached to infinitive)
No me puedo levantar, me duele la espalda.
I can't get up, my back hurts. (reflexive before poder)
No puedo levantarme, me duele la espalda.
I can't get up, my back hurts. (reflexive attached to infinitive)
When pronouns stack, they stay together as a unit, and an accent may be needed on the infinitive to preserve stress: poder + lo + decir → poder decírmelo.
The preterite vs imperfect of poder
This is a B1-level subtlety worth flagging early. The preterite and imperfect of poder carry different shades of meaning:
- Pude + infinitive = I managed to / I succeeded in (the action happened).
- Podía + infinitive = I was able to / I had the ability (background, no completion implied).
- No pude + infinitive = I couldn't and didn't (I failed).
- No podía + infinitive = I couldn't (it wasn't possible, ongoing situation).
Al final pude terminar el informe a tiempo.
In the end I managed to finish the report on time. (succeeded)
De pequeño podía correr durante horas sin cansarme.
As a kid I could run for hours without getting tired. (background ability)
Quise llamarte pero no pude.
I tried to call you but I couldn't. (one specific failed attempt)
Poder in impersonal "se puede" constructions
Se puede + infinitive is a common impersonal construction meaning "one can / it's allowed to." You see it constantly on signs.
Aquí no se puede fumar.
You can't smoke here. (it's not allowed)
¿Se puede entrar con perros?
Can you bring dogs in?
En este parque se puede montar en bicicleta.
You can ride a bike in this park.
Common Mistakes
❌ Puedo nadar muy bien desde niño.
Awkward — for a learned, permanent skill, use 'saber', not 'poder'.
✅ Sé nadar muy bien desde niño.
I've been able to swim well since I was a child.
❌ Puedo que llueva mañana.
Incorrect — the impersonal construction is 'puede que' (third person), not 'puedo que'.
✅ Puede que llueva mañana.
It might rain tomorrow.
❌ Puedo a hablar inglés.
Incorrect — 'poder' takes the infinitive directly, with no 'a' or other preposition.
✅ Puedo hablar inglés.
I can speak English.
❌ Podemos que ir al cine.
Incorrect — no 'que' between 'poder' and the infinitive.
✅ Podemos ir al cine.
We can go to the cinema.
❌ ¿Puedes me ayudar?
Word order is wrong — the pronoun goes before the conjugated verb or attached to the infinitive.
✅ ¿Me puedes ayudar? / ¿Puedes ayudarme?
Can you help me?
❌ Poderías hablar más despacio?
Wrong conditional stem — it's 'podrías', not 'poderías' (the 'e' drops out).
✅ ¿Podrías hablar más despacio?
Could you speak more slowly?
Key Takeaways
- Poder + infinitivo is the Spanish modal for ability, possibility, and permission — covering English can, could, may, might.
- The infinitive follows poder directly, with no preposition between them.
- Poder is an o → ue stem-changing verb: puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, podéis, pueden. The vosotros form is podéis.
- The future and conditional use the irregular stem podr-: podré, podría.
- For acquired skills (swimming, languages, driving), Spanish uses saber, not poder. This is the biggest trap for English speakers.
- For polite requests, use the conditional: ¿podrías...? / ¿podría usted...?
- The impersonal puede que + subjunctive means "maybe / it's possible that." The impersonal se puede + infinitive appears on signs and in general statements.
- The preterite pude means "managed to / succeeded"; the imperfect podía means "was able to / had the ability."
- Pronouns can go before poder or attached to the infinitive — both placements are equally common.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Deber (+ de) + infinitivo: obligación y probabilidadA2 — Two related but distinct constructions: deber + infinitive for moral obligation ('you should') and deber de + infinitive for probability ('it must be').
- Tener que + infinitivo: obligación personalA1 — The everyday Spanish way to say 'I have to' — tengo que + infinitive for personal obligations, requirements, and necessities.
- Hay que + infinitivo: obligación impersonalA2 — The impersonal way to say 'one has to' in Spanish — hay que + infinitive for rules, advice, and obligations that apply to everyone.
- poderA1 — Full conjugation reference for poder (can, to be able to) — one of the most-used verbs in Spanish, with an o>ue stem change in the present, a u-stem preterite (pude, pudo), a dropped-vowel future (podré), and a meaning shift in the preterite (managed to). Covers the modal uses, the polite ¿puedes…? / ¿podrías…?, the every-day no puedo más, and the peninsular vosotros forms.