This is the 85th most frequent Italian word.
potrebbe
"Potrebbe" means "could" or "might" in English, indicating possibility or polite suggestion.
'Potrebbe' is used here to express possibility in a conditional context.
Potrebbe piovere domani, quindi porterei un ombrello.
It might rain tomorrow, so I would bring an umbrella.
'Potrebbe' here introduces a rhetorical question to consider a possible scenario.
Non potrebbe essere che abbiamo fatto un errore nei calcoli?
Could it not be that we made an error in the calculations?
'Potrebbe' is applied within a polite request or question.