Questions & Answers about ¿Podrías ayudar al autor a traducir eso?
Why is it podrías instead of puedes?
Podrías is the conditional form of poder, meaning "could you". While puedes ("can you") is completely fine, using podrías is a softer, more polite way to ask for a favor, just like in English!
Why is there an a right before traducir?
The verb ayudar (to help) always requires the preposition a when it connects to another action (an infinitive verb). So, "to help translate" is always ayudar a traducir.
Why does the sentence use al autor instead of just el autor?
Because the author is a person receiving the action, we need the "personal a" before it. When the preposition a is followed by the masculine word for "the" (el), they must squeeze together into the contraction al.