¡Hola!
Let's have a look at the examples:
1)
- Sorry, I couldn't come yesterday, I was a bit busy
- You couldn't have come anyway, roads were blocked because of the snowfall
2)
- I saw Maria yesterday
- You can't have seen her. She left for Bahamas three days ago
How can I express these ideas in Spanish by means of the verb poder and perfect infinitive?
Regards,
Alexander
Hola Alexander,
1
'-Lo siento. No pude venir ayer. Estaba ocupado.
-No hubieras/habrías podido venir de todas formas, las carreteras estaban bloqueadas por la nevada.
2
-Ayer vi a María.
-No la has podido ver/pudiste ver. Se fue a las Bahamas hace tres días.
Saludos,
Inma
Thanks for your reply.
Is it possible to use "no puedes/pudiste/podrías haber venido de todas formas"?
Hola de nuevo,
In this case:
- Sorry, I couldn't come yesterday, I was a bit busy.
- You couldn't have come anyway, roads were blocked because of the snowfall.
you can use:
No podrías haber venido de todas formas.
No habrías podido venir de todas formas.
because it is a conditional structure; "Even if you hadn't been busy, you couldn't have come [because] the roads were blocked." whereas the other one (pudiste) is not. The present tense of poder (puedes) would also be incorrect.
I hope this clarified it for you.
Saludos
Inma
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