What does poder mean?
poder means to be able to, can in English. It is a stem-changing and irregular stem and one of the verbs Spanish learners should recognize quickly because it appears in everyday speech, stories, instructions, and classroom practice.
Learning a verb well means more than memorizing one form. You need to see how the verb changes with different subjects, how it behaves in the past, and how it sounds in practical sentences. This page gives you a compact reference for poder and connects it to related VerbyGo practice pages.
poder conjugation table
Use this table as a starting point for active recall. Cover one column, say the pronoun, and try to produce the form before checking the answer.
| Pronoun | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Future |
|---|
| yo |
puedo |
pude |
podía |
podré |
| tú |
puedes |
pudiste |
podías |
podrás |
| él / ella / usted |
puede |
pudo |
podía |
podrá |
| nosotros/as |
podemos |
pudimos |
podíamos |
podremos |
| ellos/as / ustedes |
pueden |
pudieron |
podían |
podrán |
Examples with poder
- Puedo practicar ahora. I can practice now.
- No podíamos salir. We could not leave.
- Podrás hablar con más confianza. You will be able to speak with more confidence.
Read each example as a full sentence. This helps you connect the form to meaning, not just to a chart. If a form feels difficult, practice it with several pronouns before moving to a new tense.
Practice prompts
- Conjugate poder for yo in the present.
- Conjugate poder for ella in the preterite.
- Conjugate poder for nosotros/as in the imperfect.
- Write one sentence using poder in the future.
Practice poder online
Use VerbyGo to practice Spanish conjugations with instant feedback, accent checking, and recent mistake review.
