Tag Archives: Italian verb potere

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 …

Potere means “to can” or “to be able to,” and is classified as a modal, or helping verb. This means that potere provides information about the ability of the speaker to “be able to” complete the  main action described in a sentence. When used in this way, potere is conjugated to reflect the speaker and the action verb follows directly after in its infinitive form — that is, the action verb is not conjugated! (Remember that Italian verbs are categorized into three infinitive forms by the following endings: -are, -ere, and -ire, and that English infinitive verbs are preceded by …