Word
Puede nevar en marzo.
Meaning
It may snow in March.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Questions & Answers about Puede nevar en marzo.
Why is it puede and not puedo, puedes, or pueden?
Because puede is the third-person singular form of poder.
In Puede nevar en marzo, there is no person like I, you, or they doing the action. Instead, Spanish uses the third-person singular for this kind of impersonal statement:
- puede = it can / it may / it might
A very literal way to think of it is:
- It can snow in March.
Even though English often drops that it in explanations of weather or possibility, Spanish still uses the third-person singular verb form.
Why is nevar in the infinitive?
Because after poder, Spanish normally uses an infinitive.
Pattern:
- poder + infinitive
So:
- puede nevar = can snow / may snow / might snow
Other examples:
- Puede llover. = It may rain.
- Puede llegar tarde. = He/She may arrive late.
- Puedo salir. = I can leave.
You do not conjugate the second verb here. That is why it is nevar, not nieva.
Why isn’t it Puede nieva en marzo?