Asking without demanding

¿podrías…?

could you…?

Say these out loud

Why it works

Puedes is fine. Podrías is politer, and costs you one letter.

Me gustaría softens a want; sería softens an opinion.

This is the conditional used for real: you already know the endings.

Why not ¿puedes?

¿puedes revisarme el pull request?

can you review my pull request?

Not wrong, just flatter. With a colleague you barely know, podrías lands better.

In a full sentence

¿Podría yo trabajar desde casa el viernes?
Could I work from home on Friday?
The conditional makes this request sound less direct.
¿Podría él cubrir la guardia esta noche?
Could he cover the on-call shift tonight?
The conditional politely asks about someone’s availability.
¿Sería posible que ella revisara el código hoy?
Would it be possible for her to review the code today?
Sería possible softens a request to a colleague.

5 gaps to fill, then 3 sentences from the English · say or type each one