Word
¿Puedes lavar el carro, por favor?
Meaning
Can you wash the car, please?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of ¿Puedes lavar el carro, por favor?
el carro
the car
poder
to be able to / can
por favor
please
lavar
to wash
Questions & Answers about ¿Puedes lavar el carro, por favor?
Why is lavar not conjugated here?
Just like with the tener que structure you are learning, when two verbs work together as a single idea, only the first one is conjugated. Here, puedes (you can) is conjugated, so the second verb, lavar (to wash), stays in its original infinitive form.
Do I need a word like que between puedes and lavar, the way I do with tener que?
No, you don't! The phrase tener que (to have to) is a special set phrase that always needs que. With most other verbs, including poder (can / to be able to), you just attach the infinitive directly after it: puedes lavar (you can wash).
Why does puedes have a "ue" in it if the base verb is poder?
I thought the word for "car" was coche or auto. Is carro correct?