Question about poder

Question about poder
 

im curious as to when i actually use poder lol...im sorry if this sounds dumb but ive noticed in most of my sentences that i use in english that use the word "can" don't translate to using it in espanol...for example..

can you tell carlos he is bad at games <-- or atleast ive been told it doesnt use poder

Puedes usar "poder" siempre que quieras.
(You can use "can" anytime you want.)

¿Puedes decirle a Carlos que a él no se le dan los juegos?

Does that answer your question?

Yes, you can!
Sí, ¡tú puedes! :)

Puedes ;) usar "poder" como "may" o "be able to", también:

¿Puedo hacer esto? - May I do that?
Yo puedo hacerlo - I'm able to do that.

"Poder" is also a noun: power. :)

I agree with JPablo & Irma about the meanings and use of "poder", and of course, they know better than I do!

But I have to point out that in the English, "Can you tell Carlos..." is not always used correctly. When you consider that "poder" means "to be able", we don't always use "can" that way in English...

Sometimes it would be better to say: "Will you tell Carlos...." (making a request).

So, if you use "poder", I believe that it would work like this:
- Spanish: ¿Puedes decirle a Carlos que a él no se le dan los juegos?
- English: Are you able to tell Carlos that he is bad at games? (That would leave me wondering why you may or may not be able to tell Carlos something...)

If you simply want to request that this information be passed along, in English we would usually state it as a question:
- Can you tell Carlos that he is bad at games?
But it might be more correct with the word "will":
- Will you tell Carlos that he is bad at games?

I believe (Pablo or Irma, please correct me here if I'm wrong), that in the Spanish, it doesn't need the "can" or "will" part to be a request:
- (Por favor,) Di a Carlos que a él no se le dan los juegos.

Take a look at this discussion, which may be helpful:
http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=6655

Right. Same with "Can I help you?" instead of the more correct way of "May I help you?"

In this case you are using the Imperative form and not "poder", which in English would be the same.

Will you tell Charles...

Please, tell Charles...

¿Podrías decirle a Carlos que a él no se le dan los juegos... y que no lo queremos en el equipo? (Yo no me atrevo, porque no quiero ofenderle.)

I just realize the example itself is a bit 'strained', but I added to it, so as to make it 'real'.

This version above is something like "Could you tell Carlos..."

In real life I probably would say... (well, in real life I would talk to Carlos directly, if I didn't want him playing with my team, and/or playing at all... but that does not go with my character... even if he was the worse player of all I would encourage him to play and get better...)
¿Por qué no le dices a Carlos que a él no se le dan los juegos... y que no lo queremos en el equipo? (Yo no me atrevo, para no ofenderle)

[Why don't you tell Carlos...]

Lo que yo diría...
Anda, dile a Carlos que se anime y que aprenda a jugar, que cuanto más juegue, más se divertirá y aunque no se le den los juegos... pronto aprenderá... ;) :)