@CK

>He could do it.

Should I assume "could" is the past tense of "can" or to have a possibility of something?

The Japanese matches OK.

彼ならできるでしょうが。
(Maybe I wouldn't have used the が.)

Related:

[#9314529] If Tom tried to do that, he could do it.
[#2648390] Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#4666262] I bet Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#6272993] Tom could do that today. (CK) *audio*
[#6272996] Tom could do that again. (CK) *audio*
[#5858498] Tom could do that for us. (CK) *audio*
[#6231880] I know Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#4700117] I think Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#5858468] Tom could do that for you. (CK) *audio*
[#6104604] I'm sure Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#6274359] Tom could do that for Mary. (CK) *audio*
[#7117230] Tom could do that by phone. (CM) *audio*
[#5276157] I wonder if Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*

Annotation:

Personally, for talking about the past, I would say something like the following.

[#5151205] Tom was able to do it. (CK) *audio*


Here are some examples in which "could" might get translated as the past of "can."

[#6231888] I knew Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#6229342] I figured Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#6348706] I told you Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*
[#6251256] I knew that Tom could do that. (CK) *audio*

Thank you, @CK.
Such short and simple sentences are sometimes hard to understand properly.

Couldn't this be interpreted both ways?