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не могли - We didn't try. We were at work when tickets still were in the ticket office.

не cмогли - We tried. But when we came to the ticket office there are no tickets.[/quote]

не могли : We...

We'd wanted to see this play, but could not get tickets
Мы хотелы посмотреть эту пьесу, но не смогли достать билеты

But I wanted to translate to

Мы хотелы видеть эту пьесу, но не могли достать...