Word
No podem reciclar l'ampolla si encara és a la nevera.
Meaning
We cannot recycle the bottle if it is still in the fridge.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of No podem reciclar l'ampolla si encara és a la nevera.
ser
to be
no
not
a
in
poder
to be able to
Questions & Answers about No podem reciclar l'ampolla si encara és a la nevera.
Why does the sentence start with No?
In Catalan, standard negation is usually made by putting no directly before the verb.
So:
- podem = we can
- no podem = we cannot / we can’t
That is why you get:
- No podem reciclar... = We can’t recycle...
This is very similar to Spanish, but different from English, where we usually need do/does/did or a modal structure like cannot.
What does podem mean, and why does it end in -em?
Podem is the 1st person plural form of the verb poder, which means to be able to / can.
Here are a few forms:
- puc = I can
- pots = you can
- pot = he/she/it can
- podem = we can
- podeu = you all can
- poden = they can
So podem specifically means we can.
In the sentence:
- No podem reciclar l'ampolla = We can’t recycle the bottle
Why is it l'ampolla instead of la ampolla?