Hola,
In the sentence "I could be Superman", is it more natural to say "yo podría ser Superman", or "yo sería Superman"?
Gracias,
Poder (to be able to) is irregular in El Condicional Simple. It is formed by adding these endings to the stem podr-:
| yo | podría |
| tú | podrías |
| él / ella / Ud. | podría |
| nosotros | podríamos |
| vosotros | podríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | podrían |
Read and listen to these examples of poder conjugated in El Condicional Simple:
Yo podría ser bombero.
I could be a fireman.
Tú podrías tener dinero debajo del colchón.
You could have money under the mattress.
¡Usted podría ser mi hijo!
You could be my son!
Nosotras podríamos ser vuestras novias.
We could be your girlfriends.
Vosotros podríais escalar el Everest.
You could climb the Everest.
See also: List of Irregular verbs in future tense and conditional tense
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
Nosotras podríamos ser vuestras novias.
We could be your girlfriends.
Vosotros podríais escalar el Everest.
You could climb the Everest.
Yo podría ser bombero.
I could be a fireman.
Tú podrías tener dinero debajo del colchón.
You could have money under the mattress.
¡Usted podría ser mi hijo!
You could be my son!
Ellos podrían comer conmigo.
They could have lunch with me.
Q&A Forum 1 question, 1 answer
Hola Stuart,
It would have a different nuance if you use "sería" instead of "podría ser".
These are the two contexts when using it with podría.
1. Yo podría ser Superman. (I could be Superman [because I have the right skills to be Superman, e.g. I can fly and I am very brave]
2. Yo podría ser Superman. (I could be Superman [...and you could be Catwoman] This is just giving a suggestion about which role you could take in a game, for example.
This is the context for using "sería":
Yo sería Superman [if I could, in my dreams...] This is expressing a desire; what you would like to be.
I hope this clarified it.
Un saludo
Inma
Stuart asked:View original
Is conditional poder needed?
Hola,
In the sentence "I could be Superman", is it more natural to say "yo podría ser Superman", or "yo sería Superman"?
Gracias,
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