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1 ♦ could
♦ could /kʊd, kəd/v. modalecould, come tutti i verbi modali, ha caratteristiche particolari:● ha significato di passato o di condizionale;● non ha forme flesse (-s alla 3a pers. sing. pres., - ing, -ed), non è mai usato con ausiliari; in sostituzione delle forme mancanti si usano, secondo il significato, quelle di to be able o di to be possible;● forma le domande mediante la semplice posposizione del soggetto;● l'infinito che segue non ha la particella to;● viene usato nelle question tags1 ( esprime capacità o abilità) – At 12 he still could not read properly, a dodici anni non sapeva ancora (o non era ancora in grado di) leggere bene; He could be very unpleasant when he wanted, sapeva (o poteva) essere molto sgradevole quando voleva; I could not resist intervening, non seppi resistere all'impulso di intervenire; The doctors could not save him, i medici non hanno potuto (o non sono riusciti a) salvarlo; I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier, mi dispiace di non esser potuta venire prima; How could you do such a thing?, come hai potuto fare una cosa simile?; We decided we could afford a bigger house, decidemmo che potevamo permetterci una casa più grande; We could hear firing in the distance, sentivamo spari in lontananza; I could feel my heart thumping, mi sentivo martellare il cuore; I turned my back to him so that he couldn't see me smiling, mi girai perché non mi vedesse sorridere2 ( nel discorso indiretto) – She said she could come after lunch, (rif. al futuro) ha detto che può (o potrà) venire dopo pranzo; (rif. al passato) disse che avrebbe potuto (o poteva) venire dopo pranzo3 ( esprime capacità ipotetica) – I could recognize that man if I saw him again, saprei riconoscere quell'uomo, se lo rivedessi; I'm so furious I could scream!, sono così furioso che mi metterei a urlare!4 ( esprime possibilità o probabilità rif. al futuro o, seguito da inf. pass., al passato) – I could be wrong, but…, potrei sbagliarmi, ma…; This could well turn out to be an advantage, questo potrebbe anche rivelarsi un vantaggio; Repairs could take two months, le riparazioni potrebbero richiedere due mesi; These mushrooms could be poisonous, questi funghi potrebbero essere velenosi; He said the damage could have been caused by a subsidence, ha detto che il danno potrebbe essere stato causato da un cedimento del terreno; The weather couldn't have been lovelier, il tempo non avrebbe potuto (o non poteva) essere migliore; He couldn't possibily have said that, non può assolutamente aver detto questo; è impossibile che abbia detto questo; She couldn't have been more than twenty, non poteva avere più di vent'anni5 ( esprime suggerimento o richiesta) – I could try again tomorrow, potrei riprovare domani; Could you go there yourself?, potresti andarci tu?; Could I have a word with you?, potrei parlarti un momento?; Couldn't we wait a bit longer?, non potremmo aspettare ancora un po?; If I could just ask a brief question…, vorrei solo fare una rapida domanda se posso6 ( seguito da inf. pass., esprime rammarico o rimprovero per qc. di non avvenuto) – Things could have been different, le cose sarebbero potute andare altrimenti; You could have hurt yourself, avresti potuto farti male; She could have told me!, avrebbe potuto dirmelo!; I could have been here by ten, if I hadn't had a puncture, sarei potuta arrivare per le dieci se non avessi forato; You couldn't have been more cruel, non saresti potuto essere più crudele7 ( in frase ipotetica, dopo if) – I would help you, if I could, ti aiuterei, se potessi; If only Dad could see me now!, se Papà mi potesse vedere ora!● could but ► but (1), B, def. 3 □ could not help ► to help □ as soon as I could, non appena potei (o mi fu possibile); più presto che potei □ as tight as could be, strettissimo □ as easy as could be wished, facile come di più non si potrebbe (o, in contesto pass., non si sarebbe potuto) desiderare.NOTA D'USO: - could have- -
2 could
could [kʊd]ⓘ GRAM La forme négative est couldn't. Dans les contextes où il est nécessaire d'utiliser une forme plus soignée, on écrit could not.∎ I'd come if I could je viendrais si je (le) pouvais;∎ she could no longer walk elle ne pouvait plus marcher;∎ they couldn't very well refuse il leur aurait été difficile de refuser;∎ five years ago I could run a mile in four minutes but I couldn't anymore il y a cinq ans, je courais un mile en quatre minutes mais je ne pourrais plus maintenant;∎ she could have had the job if she'd wanted it elle aurait pu obtenir cet emploi si elle l'avait voulu∎ he could see her talking to her boss il la voyait qui parlait avec son patron;∎ I could see his point of view je comprenais son point de vue∎ she could read and write elle savait lire et écrire;∎ she could speak three languages elle parlait trois langues∎ could I borrow your sweater? est-ce que je pourrais t'emprunter ton pull?;∎ could I join you? est-ce que je pourrais me joindre à vous?;∎ couldn't I come too? est-ce que je ne pourrais pas venir moi aussi?;∎ could you help me please? pourriez-vous ou est-ce que vous pourriez m'aider, s'il vous plaît?;∎ could you bring the bill, please? pourriez-vous apporter l'addition, s'il vous plaît?∎ they could give up at any time ils pourraient abandonner n'importe quand;∎ could he be lying? se pourrait-il qu'il mente?;∎ the stock market could crash tomorrow le marché pourrait s'effondrer demain;∎ you could well be right tu pourrais bien avoir raison;∎ don't touch it, it could be dangerous n'y touchez pas, ça pourrait être dangereux;∎ they could have changed their plans ils ont peut-être changé leurs plans∎ you could have told me the truth tu aurais pu me dire la vérité;∎ they could easily have got here earlier ils auraient facilement pu arriver ici plus tôt;∎ you could have warned me! tu aurais pu me prévenir!;∎ what could I have done with the keys? qu'est-ce que j'ai bien pu faire des clés?;∎ I could kill him! je pourrais le tuer!;∎ he could have jumped for joy il en aurait presque sauté de joie;∎ I'm as happy as could be je suis on ne peut plus heureux;∎ she was as kind as could be elle était on ne peut plus gentille∎ I couldn't just leave him there, could I? je ne pouvais vraiment pas le laisser là;∎ I couldn't possibly do it before tomorrow je ne pourrai vraiment pas le faire avant demain∎ you could always complain to the director tu pourrais toujours te plaindre au directeur;∎ couldn't you just apologize? tu ne pourrais pas simplement présenter tes excuses?;∎ couldn't we at least talk about it? est-ce que nous ne pourrions pas au moins en discuter?∎ if I could just intervene here est-ce que je peux me permettre d'intervenir ici?;∎ you could argue it's a waste of resources tu pourrais argumenter que c'est un gaspillage de ressources∎ the house couldn't have been THAT expensive la maison n'a pas dû coûter si cher que ça;∎ how could she have done such a thing? comment a-t-elle pu faire une chose pareille?;∎ how could you say that? comment avez-vous pu dire ça ou une chose pareille?;∎ who on earth could that be? qui diable cela peut-il bien être?∎ he left and you couldn't blame him il est parti et on ne peut pas lui en vouloir -
3 could
could [kʊd]a. (past)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could refers to ability in the past, it is translated by the perfect of pouvoir, or by the imperfect if the time is continuous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I couldn't phone because I had no change je n'ai pas pu téléphoner parce que je n'avais pas de monnaie━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When used with a verb of perception, could is not usually translated.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► could have is usually translated by the conditional of avoir + pu.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━b. (present)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could refers to the present, the present tense is generally used in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could indicates future possibility, it is translated by the conditional.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you could at least apologize! tu pourrais au moins t'excuser !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• could you pass me the salt, please? pourriez-vous me passer le sel, s'il vous plaît ?• could I have a word with you? est-ce que je pourrais vous parler un instant (s'il vous plaît) ?* * *[kʊd]can I -
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2 mocht(en) ⇒ zou(den) mogen, zou(den) kunnen♦voorbeelden:I could go if you like • ik zou kunnen gaan als je wiltyou could have warned us • je had ons toch kunnen verwittigenI could weep with exhaustion • ik zou kunnen huilen van vermoeidheid -
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could've[´kudəv] = could have. -
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could см. также ccould мочь см. также can -
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could've = could have. -
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[ forma debole kəd] [ forma forte kʊd]it could be that... — potrebbe essere che
could be — colloq. forse
"did she know?" - "no, how could she?" — "lo sapeva?" - "no, come avrebbe potuto?"
you couldn't come earlier, could you? — non potresti arrivare prima, vero?
6) (expressing likelihood, assumption)he couldn't be more than 10 years old — non dovrebbe avere o non avrà più di 10 anni
••I could murder him! — colloq. l'ammazzerei!
Note:Could is formally the past tense and the conditional of can. As the past tense of can, could is translated by the appropriate past tense in the indicative: I couldn't leave the children = non potevo lasciare i bambini / non potei lasciare i bambini; few people could read or write = poche persone sapevano leggere o scrivere; he couldn't sleep for weeks = non è riuscito a dormire per settimane; we could hear them laughing = li sentivamo ridere. When preceded by and dependent on a verb in the past tense, could + verb is translated by the past conditional of the appropriate Italian verb: I was sure you could do it = ero sicuro che saresti riuscito a farlo. In reported speech, could is translated by the appropriate past tense, according to the rules of Italian grammar (see the note 1.dire): she never told us she could speak Chinese = non ci ha mai detto che sapeva parlare il cinese. - For more examples, particular usages and all other uses of could see the entry below* * *[kud]negative short form - couldn't; verb1) (past tense of can: They asked if I could drive a car; I said I couldn't; She asked if she could go.) potere2) (used to express a possibility: I could go but I'm not going to; I could do it next week if you helped me.) potere•* * *[ forma debole kəd] [ forma forte kʊd]it could be that... — potrebbe essere che
could be — colloq. forse
"did she know?" - "no, how could she?" — "lo sapeva?" - "no, come avrebbe potuto?"
you couldn't come earlier, could you? — non potresti arrivare prima, vero?
6) (expressing likelihood, assumption)he couldn't be more than 10 years old — non dovrebbe avere o non avrà più di 10 anni
••I could murder him! — colloq. l'ammazzerei!
Note:Could is formally the past tense and the conditional of can. As the past tense of can, could is translated by the appropriate past tense in the indicative: I couldn't leave the children = non potevo lasciare i bambini / non potei lasciare i bambini; few people could read or write = poche persone sapevano leggere o scrivere; he couldn't sleep for weeks = non è riuscito a dormire per settimane; we could hear them laughing = li sentivamo ridere. When preceded by and dependent on a verb in the past tense, could + verb is translated by the past conditional of the appropriate Italian verb: I was sure you could do it = ero sicuro che saresti riuscito a farlo. In reported speech, could is translated by the appropriate past tense, according to the rules of Italian grammar (see the note 1.dire): she never told us she could speak Chinese = non ci ha mai detto che sapeva parlare il cinese. - For more examples, particular usages and all other uses of could see the entry below -
13 could
kudnegative short form - couldn't; verb1) (past tense of can: They asked if I could drive a car; I said I couldn't; She asked if she could go.) pasado del verbo ``poder''2) (used to express a possibility: I could go but I'm not going to; I could do it next week if you helped me.) para expresar posibilidad•could vbcould you help me? ¿me podrías ayudar?tr[kʊd]1→ link=can can{1 (asking permission) poder■ could I ask you a question? ¿podría hacerte una pregunta?■ could I use your 'phone? ¿me dejas llamar por teléfono?2 (requests) poder■ could I see the manager? ¿podría ver al director?■ could you close the door, please? ¿te importa cerrar la puerta?3 (possibility) poder■ that could be why... quizá sea por eso que...■ it couldn't have been Glen, he's on holiday no pudo ser Glen, está de vacaciones4 (suggestions) poder■ honestly, I could have hit her de verdad, le hubiera pegado■ you could have told me! ¡podías habérmelo dicho!\SMALLIDIOMATIC EXPRESSION/SMALLcould do with something necesitar algoaux.pret.(Preterito definido de "can")• de can pret.kʊd2) ( indicating possibility) poder*if I took a taxi, I could get there on time — si tomara un taxi, podría llegar a tiempo
you could have killed us all! — podrías or podías habernos matado a todos!
she couldn't have got there before six even if she'd tried — no podría haber llegado antes de las seis aunque lo hubiera intentado
3)a) ( asking permission)could I use your bathroom? — ¿podría or me permitiría pasar al baño?
b) ( in requests)could you sign here please? — ¿quiere firmar aquí, por favor?
4)a) ( in suggestions) poder*b) ( indicating strong desire) poder*I could have killed her — la hubiera matado, la podría or podía haber matado
[kʊd]VB see can I, 1)See:ABLE, CAN in able* * *[kʊd]2) ( indicating possibility) poder*if I took a taxi, I could get there on time — si tomara un taxi, podría llegar a tiempo
you could have killed us all! — podrías or podías habernos matado a todos!
she couldn't have got there before six even if she'd tried — no podría haber llegado antes de las seis aunque lo hubiera intentado
3)a) ( asking permission)could I use your bathroom? — ¿podría or me permitiría pasar al baño?
b) ( in requests)could you sign here please? — ¿quiere firmar aquí, por favor?
4)a) ( in suggestions) poder*b) ( indicating strong desire) poder*I could have killed her — la hubiera matado, la podría or podía haber matado
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pp.participio pasado del verbo can.pt.pretérito del verbo CAN.va.1 [era capaz de: pasado de "can" ]I could swim well at that age a esa edad nadaba muy bienI could hear them talking los oía hablarI could have tried harder podía haberme esforzado máshe couldn't have been kinder fue de lo más amableI could have hit him! ¡me dieron ganas de pegarle! (I was so angry)you could have warned me! ¡me podías haber avisado!, ¡haberme avisado!could you get me some water? ¿me puedes traer un poco de agua?could you be quiet please? ¿te podrías callar, por favor?could I borrow your newspaper? ¿me prestas el periódico?3 (en condicional, sugerencias)(it) could be podría serif I had more money, I could buy a new car si tuviera más dinero podría comprarme un coche nuevoyou could go to the beach podrías ir a la playaEn el inglés hablado, y en el escrito en estilo coloquial, la forma negativa could not se transforma en couldn't.(pt & pp coulded) -
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[kʋd (полная форма); kəd (редуцированная форма)]1. past от can2. с простым инфинитивом обыкн. в условных предложениях выражает реальную возможность:he could do it if he wanted - он мог /мог бы/ это сделать, если бы захотел
I could come earlier, if necessary - я мог бы прийти пораньше, если нужно
she could make the report, if she liked - она смогла бы сделать доклад, если бы захотела
he could have done it - может быть, он и сделал это
could it be true? - неужели (это правда)?
could he have meant it? - неужели он говорил это серьёзно?; неужели он имел это в виду?
she couldn't have done it! - неужели же она это сделала?
could you lend me a shilling? - не можете ли вы одолжить мне шиллинг?
could I have some more bread? - могу ли я попросить у вас ещё хлеба?, пожалуйста, передайте мне ещё хлеба
could you tell me the right time? - не можете ли вы сказать мне, который (сейчас) час?
5. со словами, передающими различные эмоции, выражает желание, склонность: -
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* * *[kud]negative short form - couldn't; verb1) (past tense of can: They asked if I could drive a car; I said I couldn't; She asked if she could go.) pret. von `können`2) (used to express a possibility: I could go but I'm not going to; I could do it next week if you helped me.) Konjunktiv von `können`•* * *[kʊd, kəd]pt, subjunctive of can* * *[kʊd] pret See: of can* * *2. (konditional, vermutend oder fragend) ich, er, sie, es könnte, du könntest, wir, Sie, sie könnten, ihr könntet:I could have killed him ich hätte ihn umbringen können;that could be right das könnte stimmen* * ** * *aux.kann aux.konnte aux.könnte aux. -
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[kud]negative short form - couldn't; verb1) (past tense of can: They asked if I could drive a car; I said I couldn't; She asked if she could go.) kunne2) (used to express a possibility: I could go but I'm not going to; I could do it next week if you helped me.) kunne•* * *[kud]negative short form - couldn't; verb1) (past tense of can: They asked if I could drive a car; I said I couldn't; She asked if she could go.) kunne2) (used to express a possibility: I could go but I'm not going to; I could do it next week if you helped me.) kunne• -
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kudnegative short form - couldn't; verb1) (past tense of can: They asked if I could drive a car; I said I couldn't; She asked if she could go.) kunne2) (used to express a possibility: I could go but I'm not going to; I could do it next week if you helped me.) kunne•kanhjelpeverb (pret. av can) \/kʊd\/, \/kəd\/1) kunne2) skulle kunne3) kunne, orket, klarte, maktet• how could he carry on?4) kunne få, få lov• could I speak to Mr. Smith?as nice as could be (hverdagslig, om person) verdens snilleste, den snilleste en kan tenke segcould be ( hverdagslig) kanskje det, mulig det, det kan være, muligens -
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[kud]гл.1) прош. вр. от can I2) (выражает вежливую просьбу что-л. сделать)Could you be so kind as to tell me the time, please? — Не подскажете ли, который час?
He could have spent his holidays at the Caribbeans, but he fell ill. — Он мог бы поехать в отпуск на Карибы, но заболел.
He could not have done it. — Вряд ли он сделал это.
5) (с глаголами, описывающими эмоциональное состояние человека, выражает склонность что-л. сделать)I could fly for joy. — Мне хотелось парить от радости.
She could burst for anger. — Она была готова взорваться от гнева.
•Gram:[ref dict="LingvoGrammar (En-Ru)"]can, could, be able to: ability[/ref][ref dict="LingvoGrammar (En-Ru)"]may, might, can, could: possibility in the past[/ref][ref dict="LingvoGrammar (En-Ru)"]may, might, can, could: possibility in the future and present[/ref] -
20 could
kud прош. вр. от can I
1) выражает вежливую просьбу что-л. сделать Could you be so kind as to tell me the time, please? ≈ Не подскажете ли, который час?
2) выражает неосуществленную возможность в прошлом He could have spent his holidays at the Carribeans, but he fell ill. ≈ Он мог бы поехать в отпуск на Карибские острова, но заболел.
3) выражает большую степень сомнения He could not have done it. ≈ Вряд ли он сделал это.
4) с глаголами, описывающими эмоциональное состояние человека, выражает склонность что-л. сделать I could fly for joy. ≈ Мне хотелось парить от радости. She could burst for anger. ≈ Она была готова взорваться от гнева. past oт can с простым инфинитивом обыкн. в условных предложениях выражает реальную возможность - he * do it if he wanted он мог это сделать, если бы захотел - I * come earlier, if necessary я мог бы прийти пораньше, если нужно - I really couldn't think of it я даже и подумать об этом не смел - she * make the report, if she liked она смогла бы сделать доклад, если бы захотела с перфектным инфинитивом выражает неосуществленную возможность в прошлом - he * have done it a week ago он мог бы это сделать неделю назад предложение со значительной степенью неуверенности (в утвердительных предложениях) - he * have done it может быть, он и сделал это большую степень сомнения (в вопросительных и отрицательных предложениях) - * it be true? неужели? - * he have meant it? неужели он говорил это серьезно?;
неужели он имел это в виду? - she couldn't have done it! неужели же она это сделала? выражает просьбу в вежливой форме - * you lend me a shilling? не можете ли вы одолжить мне шиллинг? - * I have some more bread? могу ли я попросить у вас еще хлеба?, пожалуйства, передайте мне еще хлеба - * you tell me the right time? не можете ли вы сказать мне, который час? со словами, передающими различные эмоции, выражает желание, склонность - I * cry for shame я готов был заплакать от стыда - he * sing for joy ему хотелось петь от радости could past от can
См. также в других словарях:
could — [ weak kəd, strong kud ] modal verb *** Could is usually followed by an infinitive without to : I m glad you could come. Sometimes it is used without a following infinitive: I came as quickly as I could. Could does not change its form, so the… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
could — W1S1 [kəd strong kud] modal v negative short form couldn t ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(past ability)¦ 2¦(possibility)¦ 3¦(emphasizing your feelings)¦ 4¦(requesting)¦ 5¦(suggesting)¦ 6¦(annoyance)¦ 7 couldn t be better/worse/more pleased etc 8 I couldn t … Dictionary of contemporary English
could — [kood] v.aux. [altered (infl. by WOULD, SHOULD) < ME coud < OE cuthe (akin to Goth kuntha, OHG konda, ON kunna), pt. of cunnan, to be able: see CAN1] 1. pt. of CAN1 [he gave what he could give] 2 … English World dictionary
could — modal auxiliary. 1. See can. It functions as (1) the past tense of can, as in We could see for miles, (2) as a conditional equivalent to would be able to, as in I could take you in the car if you like, and (3) as a more tentative form of can in… … Modern English usage
Could — (k??d), imp. of {Can}. [OF. coude. The l was inserted by mistake, under the influence of should and would.] Was, should be, or would be, able, capable, or susceptible. Used as an auxiliary, in the past tense or in the conditional present. [1913… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
could've — [kood′əv] contraction could have * * * … Universalium
could've — (could have) v. used to express the possibility that one may have been able to do something … English contemporary dictionary
could — could; could·est; … English syllables
could've — [kood′əv] contraction could have … English World dictionary
could|n't — «KUD uhnt», could not … Useful english dictionary
could — O.E. cuðe, pt. of cunnan to be able (see CAN (Cf. can) (v.)); ending changed 14c. to standard English d(e). The excrescent l was added 15c. 16c. on model of would, should, where it is historical … Etymology dictionary