Here's why:
* "Can" is the present tense of the modal verb "to be able to."
* "Could" is the past tense of "can."
So, to make the sentence past tense, we simply change "can" to "could."
Here's why:
* "Can" is the present tense of the modal verb "to be able to."
* "Could" is the past tense of "can."
So, to make the sentence past tense, we simply change "can" to "could."