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- "¿Puedo ver la revista?"
31 Comments
So, since you change it to the conditional form, would "may I?" literally mean, "would I be able to?" makes sense.
I would also like to know if this is the common way to say, "May I..." From the dropdown menu when you hover over "Puedo" in this sentence, it looks like "May" is a good translation here.
Do people say 'see the magazine'? Because I usually hear 'read' or 'look at' instead
I guess if someone next to you is reading a magazine and something caught your eye you could ask them "Can I see the magazine for a second?"
The translation is see, but it's assumed you're going to probably read it. It's like if your reading the newspaper and some asks to see it, instead of saying can I read that? There's a bit of a connotation that it will be a quick look. Puedo Leer LA revista ? Ignoring the unnecessary caps that my phone added haha, would technically be can I read the magazine. Rather than think the person is asking if they have the ability to read the magazine, or if they have permission to read it (both could be accurate if the context was a child asking) the normal translation is can I read it and it's interchangeable with ver since the assumption is that your not going to just look at it, but read it.
Is "Puedo veo la revista?" also correct? If so, does it matter or are these simply equivalent expressions?
No. You don't conjugate the second verb. We don't do it in English either ("can he reads the magazine?").
I would like to know this as well. I am not seeing anyone comment on these types of questions which are more important questions than knowing whether it's reading or seeing.
puedo veo la revista ≈ May I I see the magazine (notice the double 'I')
The rule is generally that a verb followed by another verb always has the second verb in the infinitive. Therefore:
puedo ver la revista ≈ May I see the magazine (ver being the infinitive)
I have only ever encountered revista as magazine, but maybe duolingo has used a vernacular; stick with revista and you'll be fine. Furthermore, maybe thinking of it as the|a review will help commit it to memory.
You will see the re prefix throughout Spanish, sometimes it makes sense and other times less so.
Examples: http://info.openanswers.org/the_spanish_verb_prefix_re
yea I know... it's just that I watched this show 'Extra' in spanish on youtube (great show btw) and in it they say 'la vista' But for Duolingo, revista it is! :)
If the pronoun 'yo' is used, the statement would be 'yo puedo ver la revista'. If this is going to be a question, the wording is 'puedo yo ver la revista ? '. If 'yo' is not used, a sentence is distinguished by a statement by use of question marks if written, and by voice inflection if spoken.
Since I'm not sure which version of the exercise you saw (several feed into the same comment at times), I can only answer from the POV of English grammar. "I can" (subject verb) signals a sentence, while "can I" (verb subject) signals a question.
In either English or Spanish, you can use the verb subject ordering in a question ("I can have this cookie?") without too much change in meaning, because of the 'magic' of a question mark overriding the sentence structure meaning. If the phrase were spoken, you would have to end with an upward inspection.
Am I able to = soy capaz de, It is not the meaning of "puedo" in this sentence, because it pretends to ask a permission. (I'm a spanish speaker)
We used to differentiate between may and can for this reason. People don't seem to do it much anymore. If you were to use may, it would be more directly petition the other person for permission.
Using 'can' instead of 'may' doesn't make sense in a lot of cases. In this case, the speaker is the only one who knows if he can (is able to) see the magazine.
t
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. See my comment here, for example. I would always use may, but other natives do not make this distinction.
I remember years ago being on a bus when a lady asked me 'Can you press the [STOP] button?' I said yes and, after a pause, my friend told me I was an ass and pressed it for her.
Yes, can and may are two different words, but many people do not use them as such. The answer to this question should be: 'May I see the magazine?', with 'Can' as an acceptable substitute.
