We can use the modal verb poder (to be able to) for past actions in both El Pretérito Indefinido and in El Pretérito Imperfecto. However poder has different meanings depending on which tense you use.
Have a look and listen to these examples:
When poder is used in El Pretérito Indefinido, it has the nuance of "succeeding/managing (or not) to do something".
Let's compare these other examples:
Javier no pudo abrir la puerta.
Javier didn't succeed in opening the door.
Javier no podía abrir la puerta.
Javier couldn't open the door.
In the first example above with "pudo" we know the result, but in the second one with "podía" we don't know whether he managed to open the door or not, we only know that he was not able to open the door at that time.
Have a look at other examples using El Pretérito Indefinido:
No pude hablar con ella ayer porque la señal en mi casa era débil.I couldn't / didn't manage to talk to her yesterday because the signal in my house was poor.
Los ingenieros no pudieron arreglar el problema.The engineers couldn't fix / didn't succeed in fixing the problem.
Have a look at other examples using El Pretérito Imperfecto:
Carlos no podía hablar con ella porque estaba nervioso.Carlos could not talk to her because he was nervous.
Remember that whichever tense is used with poder, it is always followed by Infinitivo
See also:
- Using poder in the present perfect and the preterite for "could" in past actions to learn about other ways to express "could" in past actions
- Using poder to say could [do something] for polite requests and suggestions in Spanish (El Condicional Simple) to learn about how to say "could" in polite requests.
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