If you watch enough Spanish television, you hear the expression ¿se puede? all the time. For example: imagine a character in a show knocking on the door. He opens the door and asks: ¿se puede?. You may ask yourself: what the heck does he mean?
¿Se puede? is a common question to ask if you can come in. In this context it translates to “may I?”. But that’s not the only use of the expression. It also comes in handy for pretty much every learner. For example: you don’t know if it’s correct to use a certain expression or word. In that case, you can always ask: ¿Se puede decir…? – “Can you say…?”
I don’t really have example sentences for this expression, as it’s pretty standard. However, you might want to add the following sentence to your SRS:
¿Se puede? — ¡adelante!
May I? — come in.
Related Posts:
Spanish Expression of the Day: ¡qué fuerte!
Spanish Expression of the Day: buena gente
Spanish Expression of the Day: ¡se siente!
Spanish Expression of the Day: No saber…
Spanish Expression of the Day: hasta ahora
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Nice- I just heard that one last night for the first time. I kind of thought that’s what it meant, from the context of the show, but it’s nice to know for sure.
Thanks for a great blog!
As a french, I understand “se puede” as ” C’est possible ?”, which is something pretty comon to say on many occasions. Think of it: “Is that possible?” … to come in …to use that word …to take something from your fridge …to drive this car up to 120 kms/h …to cash a traveler check in this bank and so forth. IN FRENCH one asks “c’est possible” out of politeness or to be reassured about specifics. My knowledge of the spanish is too poor to state “se puede” as the same, but it seems to be the case, don’t you think so ?
In this context, it means “is it possible”, but not in all occasions. Anyway “se puede” is certainly a polite form.
Lo entiendo cómo “Ĉu eblas” o más literalmente “Ĉu poviĝas” en Esperanto. Me parece muy fácil
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