No. 738 in Latvian

spētu

"Spētu" in English means "could" or "would be able to."

In a sentence

Ja es spētu lidot, es dotos uz tālām zemēm.
If I could fly, I would go to distant lands.
'Spētu' is used in the subjunctive mood to express a hypothetical capability.
Es nesaprotu, kā viņš spētu paveikt to darbu tik ātri.
I don’t understand how he could complete that work so quickly.
Here, 'spētu' implies a potential or theoretical ability to do something without certainty.
Vai tu spētu palīdzēt man rīt ar mājas darbiem?
Could you help me with homework tomorrow?
In this sentence, 'spētu' is used in a polite request to inquire about someone's ability to perform an action.

Hear it in real podcasts

The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “spētu” in actual Latvian podcasts.

Learn it from shows you like

LangTurbo plays Latvian podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.

Get the app

Latvian books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).