This is the 431st most frequent Italian word.
potuto
"Potuto" means "been able to" (past participle of "potere").
Here, 'potuto' again serves as the past participle of 'potere', inquiring about someone's ability in a specific situation in the past, using the auxiliary verb 'avere'.
Hai mai potuto risolvere quel problema?
Have you ever been able to solve that problem?
In this conditional sentence, 'potuto' is part of the conditional perfect form of 'potere', indicating a potential action that could have happened under different circumstances.
Se l'avessi saputo prima, avrei potuto aiutarti.
If I had known earlier, I could have helped you.
In this sentence, 'potuto' is used as the past participle of 'potere', representing a lack of ability in the past combined with the auxiliary verb 'avere'.