No podemos ocultar el error.

In Spanish, standard negation usually puts no directly before the conjugated verb.

• No podemos = we cannot / we can’t
• Podemos = we can

So:

• Podemos ocultar el error = We can hide the mistake
• No podemos ocultar el error = We can’t hide the mistake

This is the normal word order in Spanish.

Podemos is the 1st person plural form of poder, which means to be able to, can, or to have the possibility to.

Here it means we can or, with no, we can’t.

A few forms of poder in the present tense are:

• puedo = I can
• puedes = you can
• puede = he/she/it can
• podemos = we can
• podéis = you all can (used in Spain)
• pueden = they can / you all can

Notice that nosotros and vosotros forms keep the o:

• podemos
• podéis

Because after a conjugated verb like podemos, the next verb normally stays in the infinitive.

So Spanish works like this:

• podemos ocultar = we can hide
• quiero comer = I want to eat
• van a salir = they are going to leave

You do not conjugate both verbs here. That means No podemos ocultamos or No podemos oculta would be wrong.

Both can mean to hide, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.

• ocultar often means to conceal, to keep something from being seen or known
• esconder often means to hide in a more physical or everyday sense

In this sentence, ocultar sounds very natural because el error is something being concealed, covered up, or kept secret.

Examples:

• Ocultar la verdad = to conceal the truth
• Esconder las llaves = to hide the keys

That said, No podemos esconder el error is possible too, but ocultar is often a better fit for an abstract thing like error.

Spanish often uses the definite article more than English does.

Here, el error means the mistake / the error, referring to a specific error that both speaker and listener understand from context.

So:

• ocultar el error = hide the mistake
• ocultar un error = hide a mistake

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

• el error = a specific, known error
• un error = any one error, not specifically identified

Error is a masculine noun, so it takes:

• el error
• un error

The first letter does not determine the gender.

It may look unusual because some nouns beginning with stressed a use el even though they are feminine, like el agua. But that is a different pattern. Error is simply masculine.

Yes, but it means something different.

• No podemos ocultar el error = We can’t hide the mistake
  This expresses inability or impossibility.

• No ocultamos el error = We don’t hide the mistake
  This expresses a fact, habit, or choice.

So podemos adds the idea of being able to.

The meaning changes depending on where no goes.

• No podemos ocultar el error = We can’t hide the mistake
• Podemos no ocultar el error = We can choose not to hide the mistake / It is possible for us not to hide the mistake

In the original sentence, no negates podemos.
In the second version, no negates ocultar.

This is a very useful distinction in Spanish.

Yes. You can replace el error with the direct object pronoun lo.

So:

• No podemos ocultar el error
• No podemos ocultarlo

Both mean We can’t hide it, if it refers to the error.

With a conjugated verb + infinitive, Spanish often allows two positions for the object pronoun:

• No lo podemos ocultar
• No podemos ocultarlo

Both are correct.

In Spain-style pronunciation, error is approximately:

• eh-RROR

A few helpful points:

• The e is like eh
• The rr is a strong rolled or trilled r
• The stress falls on the last syllable: rror

And the whole sentence is pronounced roughly like:

• No po-DE-mos o-kool-TAR el eh-RROR

The sentence itself is standard Spanish and works in both Spain and Latin America.

Nothing in No podemos ocultar el error is especially Spain-only.

The only small regional note is that Spain uses vosotros forms in everyday speech, but this sentence uses nosotros (podemos), which is used everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.

Yes. Error can mean both error and mistake, depending on context.

For example:

• in everyday speech: a mistake
• in computing, science, or formal writing: an error

So No podemos ocultar el error could mean:

• We can’t hide the mistake
• We can’t conceal the error

The exact English translation depends on the situation.