How to say “could”

The Modal Verb “Could”
Meaning and Uses

Three important modal verbs in English are “should,” “could” and “would.” In general, modal verbs, also called “helping verbs,” convey information about the verb that follows.  The focus in this blog will be the English modal verb “could,” although the general rules for all English modal verbs are the same.

When discussing options that arise in the different stages of life — for instance, where to go to college, what profession to choose, where to raise a family — the modal verb “could” comes into play.  There are  usually several possibilities to consider before a choice is made and “could” allows us to imagine what the future may bring.

Let’s first answer some general questions about “could” and how it is used in English before comparing this verb this to its Italian counterpart.

 

Why is “could” considered a modal verb?

The English verb “could” is considered a modal verb because “could” has only one form and also because its function is to modify a main verb by providing additional information. A modal verb is placed directly before the main verb to “modify” it. This role also leads to the informal name of “helping verb,” as the information provided by a modal verb is not found in the main verb.

Previous blogs in this series, “How to Say ‘Should’ in Italian,” and “How to Say “Supposed to” in Italian” discussed how to use dovere to express the same ideas as  the modal verb “should” and the modal phrase “supposed to” to describe the probability of a future occurrence.

This blog will focus on how to express the possibility that a belief is true with the English modal verb “could” and the Italian verb potere. This is a step down from the high degree of probability expressed with the modal verbs “should” and “supposed to.”

Of note, with the modal verb “could,”
the speaker is expressing a greater degree of uncertainty
than with the modal verb “should.”

English also uses the modal verbs “can,” “may,” and “might” to express possibility.  Although the primary function of “can” is to express ability, in American English today, “can” is heard more often than “may” when expressing possibility. “Might” is used to stress an even less likely possibility than “may.”

The negative of the modal verbs “can” and “could” — “cannot” and “could not” — are used to express impossibility.  In the negative, “could” functions as the past tense of “can;” “cannot is something that is not possible in the present, while “could not” is something that was not possible in the past.  Of course, in conversational English, “cannot” is most often heard in its contracted form, “can’t,” and “could not” is usually spoken as “couldn’t.”

 

What concepts are relayed with “could”?

1. To describe possibility in a general way, English uses the modal verb “could.” With this modal verb, it is possible that an event under discussion will happen, but there is more uncertainty than with the modal verb “should.” In short, there is the possibility, but no guarantee, that something will happen at all!

“Could” conveys a bit more uncertainty than the modal verbs “can” or “may,” although sometimes the use of “could” signals that there may be an element under the speaker’s control to skew the possibility one way or another.

• “I  may go to the city today.” (Going to the city is a possibility.)
• “I can go to the city today.” (I have the ability to go to the city and it is possible that I may.)
• “I could go to the city today but…”  “I could go to the city today if…”

2. “Could” is used to make polite requests in the form of a question; it is considered less demanding than “can.”  “Could” is a helpful modal verb to know when asking for something you need in daily life, and especially while traveling outside your home town.  One common situation in which “could” is often employed is at a restaurant when making a polite request of the waiter.

• “Can you bring me some water?“
• “Could you bring me some water?”

3.  To ask for permission, English differentiates between the modal verbs “can” and “may.”  In this case, “can” is used to express ability, while “may” is used to express possibility. However, in American English today, the correct modal verb “may” is not often heard, and has largely been replaced by “can.”  “Could” is also used to ask for permission.

• “Can I visit you today at your house?” (ability)
  Answer: “I don’t know, do you have a car to drive over here?”
• “May I visit you today at your house?” (ask permission)
  “Could I visit you today?”
  Answer: “You certainly may!”
  
  

The verb “could” modifies the verb that follows.
For a possible occurrence,
or to make a polite request,
simply say ‘could’ in English.

 

How do you use “could” in a sentence?

To use “could” to talk about possibility, simply put “could” before a main verb in its “bare infinitive” form (without using “to” before the main verb). That’s it! No conjugation required!

Note that for questions, the subject and the verb “could” are inverted in English.

From the examples above:

• “I could go…”
• “Could you bring…?”
• “Could I visit…?“

Place “not” after any modal verb that expresses possibility — can, may, might, could — to express impossibility. As noted in the first section, in this situation, “could” is used as the past tense of “can,” to describe something that did not happen in the past.  In conversation the negation is most often contracted into “can’t” or “couldn’t.”

• “I can’t come to visit you today” 
• “I’m sorry but I couldn’t come to visit you yesterday because…”

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The Italian Modal Mood
“Potere” Conditional Tense

How do I use the Italian verb “potere” to say “could”?

Like the English verb “could,” potere is considered a helping verb because it modifies the verb that follows to give additional information.

It is important to learn how to use potere to say “could”
to communicate information effectively in Italian!

In the same way as the English modal verb could,  potere conjugated in the conditional tense is used to describe the possibility an event will happen. As with “could,” just because there is a possibility, the outcome is in no way guaranteed.

 

What ideas does potere in the conditional tense convey?

Italians use potere conjugated in the conditional tense to relay all the ideas described in English in the previous section: (1) to describe the possibility that something will happen in a general way, (2) to make polite requests in the form of a question, and (3) to ask for permission.

For a possible, but not certain occurrence,
to make a polite request or ask for permission,
In Italian, conjugate potere in the conditional tense.

 

How do you use potere in a sentence?

The present tense conjugation of potere is the equivalent of both “can,” “may,” and “might” in English; potere in the present tense is used to express both ability and possibility.  If you need a refresher on the usefulness of the verb potere, especially for the traveler who wants to speak politely while in Italy, refer to the blog, “Being Polite with ‘Potere’.”

Luckily for students of Italian,
it is easier than in English to express possibility
because the single Italian verb potere
can take care of all the English modal verbs used in this situation!

To use potere in an Italian sentence to convey possibility as an English speaker would with the modal verb “could,” potere must be conjugated in the conditional tense.  In technical terms, this is called the “Italian modal mood.” After potere is conjugated in the conditional tense, it is placed directly before a main verb in the infinitive, as in English.

Notice from the examples below that the subject pronoun is omitted in conversational Italian when modal verbs are used, as with most other Italian verbs.

Examples from the last section that express possibility are given below, now with their Italian counterparts:

• “I  may go to the city today.” (Going to the city is a possibility.)
  “Posso andare in città oggi.”
• “I can go to the city today.” (I have the ability to go to the city and it is possible that I may.)
  “Posso andare in città oggi.”
• “I could go to the city today but…”
  “Potrei andare in città oggi, ma…”

• “Can you bring me some water?”
  “Mi può portare dell’acqua?” (polite you)
• “Could you bring me some water?”
  “Mi potrebbe portare dell’acqua?” (polite you)
  

• “May I visit you today at your house?”
  “Posso andare a trovarti a casa tua oggi?”
• “Could I visit you today?”
  “Potrei andare a trovarti oggi?”

 

If something is not possible, just put the Italian “non” before the conjugated form of potere in Italian.  If speaking about the present, conjugate potere in the present tense for the equivalent of the English modal verbs “can,” “may,” and “might.”  If speaking about a past event, conjugate potere in the Italian modal mode for “could,”

Two common Italian expressions that use potere in the negative:

“Non posso.”
“I can’t.”

“Non ne posso più!”
“I can’t take it any more!”

 

In another common Italian phrase, “a più non posso,”  posso is placed at the end of the phrase to describe something that was done to the best of one’s ability.  It is the Italian way of saying that  any more effort was not possible.  The English translations are, “as hard as I could” or “as much as I could.”

“Ho corso a più non posso!”
“I ran as fast as I could.”

“Ho lavorato a più non posso.”
“I worked as hard as I could.”

 

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The Italian Modal Mood
“Potere” Conditional Past Tense

To talk about the past with potere in the Italian modal mood, use the formula [avere conditional + potere past participle + infinitive verb] or [essere conditional + potere past participle + infinitive verb]. The choice of avere or essere will depend on the infinitive verb being modified. If you need a refresher on how to choose between avere and essere  in the past tense, refer to the discussion in a previous blog:  “Past Tense ‘Passato Prossimo’: ‘Avere’ or ‘Essere’?”

Potuto is the past participle of potere. When essere is needed, the ending of the past participle potuto must reflect the gender and number of the speaker. The choices become: potuto, potuta, potuti, and potute.

In the examples below with potere in the conditional past tense, the first sentence takes avere and the second takes essere. 

“What could I have done?”
“Che avrei potuto fare?”

“I could have gone to Rome last month but…”
(male or female speaker)
“Avrei potuto(a) andare a Roma il mese scorso, ma…”

“They could have gone to Rome last month but…”
(group of male speakers, mixed group or group of female speakers)
“Avrebbero potuti(e) andare a Roma il mese scorso, ma…”

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Congugation of “Potere”
in the Italian Conditional Tense

The preceding sections discussed why potere must be conjugated in the conditional tense to convey the same meaning as the English modal verb “could.”  The full method to conjugate the Italian conditional tense is given below and the conjugation of potere follows. It should be noted that the verb endings for the conditional tense are always regular and are the same for all three Italian groups of infinitive verbs (-are, -ere, -ire Italian endings).

How to Conjugate the Italian Conditional Tense

1. To change any infinitive verb into the conditional tense, first drop the final -e to create stems that end in the letter r.
2.  For all -are verbs, the letter a that remains in the –ar ending of the stem must then be changed to an e.
3.  This leaves stems with endings as follows for the three conjugations of -are, -ere, and –ire verbs: -er, -er, and -ir.
4.  Then, add the following endings below to the stems for all three conjugations:

Conditional Tense Endings
io	ei
tu	esti
Lei/lei/lui	ebbe
noi	emmo
voi	este
loro	ebbero

“Potere” Conditional Tense

The conjugation of potere in the conditional tense is given in the table below. The irregular stem is potr, although the endings are regular.  Once again, notice that the English modal verb “could” is not conjugated.

When pronouncing an Italian conditional verb, the stress will always fall on the syllable that contains the letter r.” The stressed syllable is underlined below in the table for potere:

English Modal Verb Should		Potere Conditional Tense
I should	io	potrei
You familiar should	tu	potresti
You polite, he/she/it should	Lei/lei/lui	potrebbe
we should	noi	potremmo
you all should	voi	potreste
they should	loro	potrebbero

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Every Day Italian Phrases with
“Could” and “Potere”

When imagining future options with potere, two conjugations in the third person conditional tense come up frequently which use essere and avere: “could be” is “potrebbe essere” and “could have” is “potrebbe avere.” Of course, the third person singular also refers to what “polite you,” “he” and “she” could be” or “could have.”

In the scenario below, a mother is discussing options for moving to a different town with her family. Look for the conditional tense of potere as she imagines what their new life might be like.

“Quest’anno potremmo andare a trovare tua zia Anna a Roma.”
 “This year, we could go to visit your Aunt Ann in Rome.”

“No, quest’anno vorrei vedere Venezia.  Non ho mai visto Venezia.”
“No, this year I want to see Venice.  I’ve never seen Venice.”

“Forse potremmo prendere un volo a Roma e dopo un treno a Venezia.”
“Maybe we could take a flight to Rome and after a train to Venice.”

“Ottimo idea! Perché potremmo anche visitare le città lungo il percorso, come Firenze e Bologna.”
“Great idea! Because we could also visit the cities along the way, like Florence and Bologna.”

“Ma quel viaggio potrebbe essere troppo lungo.  E voglio visitare Sicilia per andare a trovare la mia famiglia da Ragusa.”
“But that trip could be too long. And I want to visit Sicily to visit my family in Ragusa.”

“Non possiamo visitare anche Sicilia in questo viaggio. Non abbiamo abbastanza tempo!”
“It’s not possible to also visit Sicily in this trip. We don’t have enough time!”

“E questo potrebbe essere l’ultimo viaggio in Italia per me perché sto diventendo anziano!”
“And this could be the last trip to Italy for me because I am becoming old!”

“Va bene.  Ma solamente Roma, Firenze e Venezia, come i turisti!”
“Very well. But only Rome, Florence, and Venice, like the turists!”

 

When traveling, there are also many options to consider, especially when traveling to Italy; with so many picturesque and charming cities in the bel paese, the choices are endless!  Where should one stop? How long to stay?  Where to dine?  The modal verb “could” allows us to converse with another while reviewing our options.

In the second scenario, an Italian-American couple is discussing their annual trip to Italy. 

Remember that “andare a trovare qualcuno” means “to go to visit someone” and visitare is used when visiting a place. 

“Quest’anno potremmo andare a trovare tua zia Anna a Roma.”
 “This year, we could go to visit your Aunt Ann in Rome.”

“No, quest’anno vorrei vedere Venezia.  Non ho mai visto Venezia.”
“No, this year I want to see Venice.  I’ve never seen Venice.”

“Forse potremmo prendere un volo a Roma e dopo un treno a Venezia.”
“Maybe we could take a flight to Rome and after a train to Venice.”

“Ottimo idea! Perché potremmo anche visitare le città lungo il percorso, come Firenze e Bologna.”
“Great idea! Because we could also visit the cities along the way, like Florence and Bologna.”

“Ma quel viaggio potrebbe essere troppo lungo.  E voglio visitare Sicilia per andare a trovare la mia famiglia da Ragusa.”
“But that trip could be too long. And I want to visit Sicily to visit my family in Ragusa.”

“Non possiamo visitare anche Sicilia in questo viaggio. Non abbiamo abbastanza tempo!”
“It’s not possible to also visit Sicily in this trip. We don’t have enough time!”

“E questo potrebbe essere l’ultimo viaggio in Italia per me perché sto diventendo anziano!”
“And this could be the last trip to Italy for me because I am becoming old!”

“Va bene.  Ma solamente Roma, Firenze e Venezia, come i turisti!”
“Very well. But only Rome, Florence, and Venice, like the turists!”

 

How many more phrases can you think of? What should you be doing today, tomorrow, next year? Where should you be going — for work, vacation, or maybe to visit a friend or family member?

Add details from your own personal life
to phrases that use potere,
and build a personal vocabulary
that you could use every day!