Poder
 

I don't know how to translate "poder" in the following sentence:

Me habría gustado poder hablar más sobre este tema

I would have liked "poder" (can? :confused:) talk longer about this topic.

Thanks :)

I would have liked to have been able to speak longer..

This is what is said in English, where poder is translated as haber podido the perfect infinitive.

Remember, the verb 'can' is defective, and the infinitive is 'to be able' :)

I would have liked to be able to talk longer/more...
or
I would have liked to have been able to speak longer/more..


Correct?

Of course, been able. I don't know what I have sometimes on my neck :thinking:

That "more..." I guess it's not "more time" :confused:

Thanks :)

A hat? :wicked:


Why not?

Chileno, the first one is logical, but I think not correct, or used. The second is correct, where your past conditional main verb and your modal auxiliary infinitive are both in the past. :)

Well, the second one copied from your post and added the "more..." :D

So it is logical but not correct? Are you sure?

Out of google " I would have liked him to show a little..."

I must learn this rule :thinking:

Can I say "more time" instead of "longer" here?

And what about talk / speak about? Are they interchangeable in this sentence? :confused:

To talk longer about this topic / to speak longer about this topic

:thinking:

hi chileno - in north american english "i would have liked to be able..."
is so common as to be 'colloquially acceptable', but technically incorrect.

in U.S./ Canadian conversational usage you'd not likely be corrected,
but some listeners might notice the grammatical error.

hermit

Now I'm not totally sure. Your example from Google is really annoying, because it depends what she (it has to be a she!) means. If she is referring to the past, then she should have said I would have liked him to show have shown a little..."

But if she is talking of the present, i.e. he is some bloke who is not (yet) behaving as he should, then the example is correct as it stands. So the comparison is not quite fair.

It might be just a question of style. Where is pjt when we need him? :confused: