Is it true that "could" is generally referred to talk about past possibilities? If so, why?
We say "I could meet you tomorrow". Why can't we just say "I can meet you tomorrow."?
Maybe the answer is that the former sounds more polite?
A follow-up question. Can we say "I could meet you yesterday.", in the present (today), if we didn't met that person yesterday because of some reason? Here we use "could" to talk about past abilities. Now that person asks "When can we possibly meet?" (as we didn't before). In that case, can we say "I could meet you yesterday but now I am busy from mon to fri so probably on sat."?
When we say "I will meet you," we are certain that we will meet someone.
I don't understand why we say we "I would meet you". What I understand is that if someone says "I would meet you tomorrow", that basically means "I won't meet you in reality because I have some other stuff to do". So, saying "I would meet" to someone always implies there is a reason why I won't meet them in. If this is so, then when we say "I would meet you," is there any possibility of meeting in reality?
If the answer is yes, then here is a follow-up question, same as for "could".
Can we say "I would meet you yesterday?" in the present (today) if we haven't met that person yesterday because of some reason? We use "would" as past version of "will". Now that person asks again, "As we didn't meet yesterday, when can we possibly meet?". In that case, can we say "I would meet you yesterday but now I am busy from mon to fri so probably on sat.'?
