3raq_

[minor agate]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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[covert anvil]

J'avais pu = I had been able to
J'aurais pu = I would have been able to

first one is plus-que-parfait tense
second one is past conditional tense

[dusky escarp]

So one means I used to be able to and the other is almost regretful?

[covert anvil]

First one means "I had been able to", so it's describing a moment in the distant past compared to a moment in a more recent past.
"Up until that point, I had been able to do it"

Yes, the second one is almost regretful. "If I had tried harder, I would have been able to do it"