Podia vs pude

[tangoalphayank]

could they buy the tickets yesterday? yes they were able to buy them. I have a hard time understanding when to use could in preterite and imperfect. Can someone give me me an example? por favor empleando poder. podia vs. pude etc.

[aleCcowaN]

¿Pudieron comprar las entradas ayer? Sí, las pudieron comprar.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@tango: You may want to take a look here (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=13835), here (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=11249), here (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=7197) or here (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=11682), for examples on using imperfect and past. :)