Whereas the imperfect of querermerely states ‘wanted to’, the positive
preterite generally suggests ‘tried to’:Siempre queríamos ir a We always wanted to go to
España. Spain.
Quise pedirle un autógrafo I wanted (and tried) to ask
pero no lo permitieron. her for an autograph, but they
did not allow it.
The negative preterite of querercarries the implication of ‘refused to’:No quiso entrar en detalles. He refused to give details.Poder
Ability and permission(a) In several tenses poder corresponds to English ‘can’, ‘may’, ‘be able to’:
No sé si pueden salvarlos. I don’t know if they can
rescue them.
No ha podido encontrar a su He has not been able to find
mamá. his mother.
Usted puede pagar mañana. You may pay tomorrow.
¿Se puede (entrar)? Can I come in?(b) Used in the conditional, poder corresponds to English ‘could’ (except
when this refers to past time, see (c)) or ‘would beable’:¿Podríamos dormir aquí? Could we sleep here?
Podrían hacerlo si quisieran. They could do it if they
wanted.
(c) The imperfectform of poder indicates ‘could’ or ‘wasable to’ in the
past, without any indication of whether an attempt was made, i.e. a state
or condition:
No podía desmentir la He could not contradict the
noticia. news.
The preteritehas the sense of ‘managed to’ (in positive sentences) and of
‘failed to’ (in negative sentences):16.5.116.5
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