| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| Do you remember how the character said, |
| "I can help you." |
| Puedo ayudarte. |
| Puedo ayudarte. |
| This sentence follows the pattern here:. |
| Puedo + infinitive (+ pronoun) |
| In English: "I can" + action + pronoun (optional) |
| This construction uses the verb poder in the present tense, followed by an infinitive verb. |
| Here's how the line from the dialogue uses the pattern. |
| Puedo ayudarte. |
| "I can help you." |
| Let's break it down. |
| Puedo ayudarte means "I can help you." |
| Puedo is the first-person singular form of the verb poder in the present tense, meaning "I can." |
| Ayudarte combines the infinitive verb ayudar, meaning "to help," with the pronoun -te, meaning "you." |
| So, ayudarte means "to help you." |
| Altogether, puedo ayudarte means "I can help you," and it follows the pattern: puedo + infinitive + pronoun. |
| Let's look at a few more lines from the dialogue where the verb poder is used in the context of giving help or encouragement. |
| The character says: |
| ¿Me puedes dar una lista de ejercicios? |
| "Can you give me a list of exercises?" |
| Let's break it down. |
| ¿Me puedes dar…? — This means "Can you give me…?" |
| Me is the indirect object pronoun, meaning "to me." |
| Puedes is the second-person singular form of the verb poder, meaning "you can." |
| Dar is the infinitive form of "to give." |
| So altogether, ¿Me puedes dar…? means "Can you give me…?" |
| Then we have: |
| una lista de ejercicios — meaning "a list of exercises." |
| Una lista means "a list," and de ejercicios means "of exercises." |
| So the full sentence ¿Me puedes dar una lista de ejercicios? It follows the pattern: |
| ¿Me puedes + infinitive (+ complement)? |
| "Can you + infinitive (+ complement)?" |
| Which is a polite way to ask for help using poder. |
| Here's another example from the dialogue. |
| ¡Tú puedes lograrlo! |
| "You can do it!" |
| Let's break it down. |
| Tú is the subject pronoun meaning "you." |
| Puedes is the present tense form of poder, meaning "you can." |
| Lograrlo is a combination of the verb lograr, meaning "to achieve" or "to accomplish," and the pronoun lo, meaning "it." |
| So lograrlo means "to achieve it" or "to do it." |
| Altogether, ¡Tú puedes lograrlo! means "You can do it!" |
| This one follows the pattern: |
| Tú puedes + infinitive |
| "You can + infinitive" |
| These lines are great examples of how poder is used in real conversations—whether you're asking for something or cheering someone on. |
| Let's take a look at the full present tense conjugation of poder: |
| yo puedo – I can |
| tú puedes – you can (informal) |
| él/ella/usted puede – he/she/you (formal) can |
| nosotros/nosotras podemos – we can |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes pueden – they/you all can |
| This verb is irregular, so pay close attention to the spelling changes in some forms. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| Puedo preparar el desayuno hoy. |
| "I can make breakfast today." |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Puedo, the first-person singular of the irregular verb poder, meaning "I can," |
| followed by |
| preparar, the infinitive form of preparar, meaning "to prepare," |
| next |
| el desayuno, meaning "the breakfast," |
| and finally |
| hoy, meaning "today." |
| So together: Puedo preparar el desayuno hoy means "I can prepare breakfast today." |
| Now you can use poder plus an action verb to say what you're able or willing to do. |
| Here's another example |
| ¿Me puedes explicar este ejercicio? |
| "Can you explain this exercise to me?" |
| ¿Me puedes explicar este ejercicio? |
| "Can you explain this exercise to me?" |
| Let's try one more, |
| Tú puedes terminar el proyecto a tiempo. |
| "You can finish the project on time." |
| Tú puedes terminar el proyecto a tiempo. |
| "You can finish the project on time." |
| Another one. |
| Puedo llamarte después de clase. |
| "I can call you after class." |
| Puedo llamarte después de clase. |
| "I can call you after class." |
| One last example. |
| ¿Me puedes ayudar con las bolsas? |
| "Can you help me with the bags?" |
| ¿Me puedes ayudar con las bolsas? |
| "Can you help me with the bags?" |
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