Grammar 6.3: The verbs "saber" and "poder" plus infinitive
I do not understand this book of yours. There is literally no reason for this topic to be an entire grammar section on its own.
It's dead simple, basically:
- If you want to express that anyone knows how to do something, you use the verb "saber" immediately followed by a verb in infinitive.
- If you want to express that anyone is able to (ie, can) do something, you use the verb "poder" immediately followed by a verb in infinitive.
- That's it.
Again:
If you want to express that anyone knows how to do something, you use the verb "saber" immediately followed by a verb in infinitive.
- We never translate the "how" part of "knowing how". Your book even manages to point this out on page 191.
- The only thing remotely special about "saber" is that it has an irregular yo-form in the present tense, which you must memorize:
- It is "sé" (with accent mark; it's mandatory)
All other present-tense forms are completely normal:
nosotros sabemos
ellos/ellas/ustedes saben
tú sabes
él/ella/usted sabe
And again:
If you want to express that anyone is able to (ie, can) do something, you use the verb "poder" immediately followed by a verb in infinitive.
The only thing special about "poder" is that it stem-changes o to ue in the present tense.
yo puedo
tú puedes
él/ella/usted puede
nosotros podemos (remember--nosotros forms do not stem change in the present tense)
ellos/ellas/ustedes pueden
Let's see some examples to close:
Conjugated "saber" plus verb in infinitive for knowing how to do something:
- Mi ex-novio sabe bucear muy bien.
- Sé hablar italiano.
- ¿Sabes cocinar?
Conjugated "poder" plus verb in infinitive for being able to do something:
- Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. (This is actually the first line of a very famous poem, Poema 20, by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.)
- Ustedes pueden consultar el libro de texto durante el examen.
- Celia y yo no podemos asistir a la fiesta de nuestro amigo Ricardo.
Grammar 6.3: The verbs "saber" and "poder" plus infinitive
By kjjones
Grammar 6.3: The verbs "saber" and "poder" plus infinitive
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