Quick answer – ‘podía’ and ‘podría’ are both conjugations of the verb ‘poder’ and both translate as ‘could’ in English … BUT we use ‘podía’ to speak about the past, and ‘podría’ when speaking about possibilities (amongst other things) in the present.
Sound tricky? Did your heart sink? Well, by the end of this article we’ll have rescued it from the bottom of the sea!
There’s even a short quiz for you, specially tailored to your Spanish growth!
Drum roll … let’s get into it!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
‘Podía’ (first + third person conjugations of ‘poder’ in the IMPERFECT tense) can be used as follows –
1. To speak about an ability someone had in the past.
De niño podía leer sin problemas; ahora necesito anteojos. = When I was a boy, I could read without a problem; now I need glasses.
2. To mean ‘couldn’t deal with’ (‘no podía’), in the sense of putting up with, bearing or handling something/someone – lots of ways to say it in English.
Carlos no podía con tanto trabajo, así que renunció. = Carlos couldn’t deal with so much work, so he quit.
‘Podría’ (first + third person conjugations of ‘poder’ in the CONDITIONAL tense) can be used in the following ways –
1. To make a polite request.
¿Podría decirme dónde está la estación de tren? = Could you tell me where the train station is?
2. To express possibility.
Este podría ser un buen lugar para festejar tu cumpleaños. = This could be a good place to celebrate your birthday.
3. To talk about hypothetical situations.
Si tuviera una casa, podría dormir en ella. = If I had a house, I could sleep in it.
When to use ‘podía’
We use ‘podía’ to talk about past abilities, so things people could do or things that could happen back in the day.
It generally translates to either ‘could’ or ‘used to be able’.
Let’s look at a few examples –
José podía ganarle a cualquiera* en el campo de tenis. Era el mejor tenista en toda la escuela.
José could beat anybody on the tennis court. He was the best player in the whole school.
Me di cuenta de que no podía descifrar el acertijo por mi cuenta.
I realized that I couldn’t solve the riddle on my own.
Podía ver la televisión todo el día, pero ahora soy padre de cinco hijos.
I used to be able to watch TV all day, but now I’m the father of five children.
Lisa podía tocar sus pies, pero ahora no tiene la flexibilidad.
Lisa used to be able to touch her toes, but now she’s not flexible enough.
*Erika’s note – ‘cualquiera’ best translates to ‘anybody’ in this sentence, but it can be quite a tricky customer! Check out our article on ‘cualquier’ and ‘cualquiera’ if you wanna know more!
No podía + con
Aside from ‘couldn’t’, ‘no podía’ can also mean ‘couldn’t deal with’ / ‘couldn’t bear’.
It´s often followed by the preposition ‘con’.
Here are some examples –
Ella no podía sola con esa carga. Hizo bien en pedir ayuda.
She couldn’t bear that burden alone. It was a good thing she asked for help.
Marcos no podía con la negligencia de Raúl, lo cual hizo que se separaran.
Marcos couldn’t deal with Raul’s negligence, so they ended up going their separate ways.
You can also throw the adverb ‘más’ into the mix.
‘No podía más’ or ‘ya no podía más’ roughly translate to ‘I / He / She couldn’t take it anymore’ –
José no podía más. Necesitaba vacaciones.
José couldn’t take it anymore. He needed a vacation.
When to use ‘podría’
Just as with the English ‘could’, we whack ‘podria’ in front of many a verb in a number of different situations in the here and now.
We use ‘podría’ to make polite requests.
Here are some ejemplos –
Señor Marcos, ¿Podría ayudarme a resolver este caso?
Mr. Marcos, could you help me solve this case?
Un visitante habla con una enfermera
Señora, ¿Podría dejarme pasar? Mi esposa está en esta habitación.
Lo siento, pero solamente se admiten dos visitantes. Tendrá que esperar.
A visitor speaks to a nurse
Miss, could you let me in? My wife is in this room.
I’m sorry, but only two visitors are allowed at a time. You’ll have to wait.
We can also use ‘podría’ to make suggestions –
Podría usted llamar al hotel para ver si encontraron su mochila.
You could call the hotel to see if they found your backpack.
Podría visitar el Palacio de Buckingham.
He / She could visit Buckingham Palace.
It can also be used to express possibility –
Mira todas esas nubes. Creo que podría llover esta noche.
Look at all those clouds. I think it might rain tonight.
Quizás / Tal vez * podría ganar el premio.
She might be able to win the prize.
Erika’s note – ‘quizás’ and ‘tel vez’ are two different ways of saying ‘maybe’.
If you had more time, you could read ALL my articles!
Which brings me on nicely to another use of ‘podría’: making a simple claim of ability when talking about hypothetical situations.
Échale un vistazo a estos ejemplos –
Si tuviera un millón de dólares, podría comprar un yate.
If I had a million dollars, I could buy a yacht.
The emphasis here is on the fact that the speaker WOULD BE ABLE TO buy the yacht.
Podría ayudarte con tu tarea si tuviera más tiempo.
I could help you with your homework if I had more time.
Again, the speaker is saying that he WOULD BE ABLE TO HELP, a simple claim of ability.
It’s worth noting that in day-to-day Spanish, it’s MUCH more common to say, “would do something” than “could do something”.
That’s because ‘podría’ is used to express hypothetical ability and a verb conjugated in the conditional tense (i.e., ‘compraría’ and ‘ayudaría’) is used to express desire.
A twist on the previous examples to explain my point –
Si tuviera un millón de dólares, compraría un yate.
If I had a million dollars, I would buy a yacht.
The use of ‘would’ here is more definite; the speaker would almost definitely buy a yacht in this situation.
Te ayudaría con tu tarea si tuviera más tiempo.
I’d help you with your homework if I had more time.
Again, the speaker is saying that he WOULD help if he had more time; it´s a more “definite” response.
‘Podría‘ as a conjugation of ‘pudrir‘
Still with me? Or has your mind turned to rot?
There’s another use of ‘podría’ and it’s a weird one at that, let me tell you. I didn’t mention it earlier because I didn’t want you running for the hills.
Here we go: the verb ‘pudrir’ means ‘to rot’ and its imperfect (long) past form is ‘pudría’!
Cool, Rupert, very interesante, but why are you telling me this …
Because, my dear reader, ‘pudría’ has an alternative spelling … wait for it … none other than our friend ‘podría’. Quite a niche verb, but you never know when it might come in handy.
Una vez en el suelo, la manzana se podría/pudría debido al intenso calor.
Once on the ground, the apple rotted due to the intense heat.
Final thoughts
Way to go, amigo!
Feeling a bit “grammared-out”? Well, you’re doing super well. You’ve made it up to this point, which means a lot … to me at least!
Be sure to keep practicing. After all, “life’s like riding a bicycle; to keep your balance, you must keep moving!”.
Oh, and make sure to give our article on ‘aún‘ and ‘todavía‘ a quick once over if you wanna crack the Spanish grammar code once and for all!
¡Hasta la vista!
‘Podía’ vs ‘podría’ quiz
1. Me está costando mucho resolver esto. ¿__________ pedirte un poco de ayuda?
2. Carla no __________ con tanta responsabilidad, así que decidió declinar el nuevo puesto de trabajo.
3. Esta especie __________ ser un nuevo descubrimiento, ya que nunca antes fue registrada por nadie.
4. Confía en mí y no digas nada, creo que alguien __________ estar escuchando todo lo que hablamos.
5. El prisionero __________ escapar si la policía se descuidara.
6. Cuando era joven __________ tocar mis pies.
7. Tendrías que haber visto la cara de cansada de Paula. No __________ más.
8. No __________ estar más agradecida contigo. Me has salvado la vida.
9. Después del accidente, Josefina estaba tan asustada que no __________ decir una sola palabra.
10. Yo __________ hacerte un resumen del libro, pero creo que lo mejor para ti es que lo hagas tú mismo.
Answers –
1 Podría
2 podía
3 podría
4 podría
5 podría
6 podía
7 podía
8 podría
9 podía
10 podría
