English Translation
I wasn’t able to recognize him because he was wearing a mask.
Why does it translate to “I couldn’t recognize him” when it is “konnte”? It should be “I wasn’t able to recognize him because he was wearing a mask.”
Could you explain a bit more why you think “wasn’t able to” is a better translation that “couldn’t”?
“Ich kann” is the direct translation of “I can”. In the past tense, that becomes “Ich konnte” for “I could”.
I think “I wasn’t able to …” could be translated by “Ich war nicht in der lage …”, although there might be better translations. I’m not sure 
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Technically, like in English, I couldn’t and I wasn’t able to get the same thing across. I was more so fixing the second half of the sentence.
https://www.dict.cc/?s=k%C3%B6nnte
According to dict.cc:
konnte = “was able” or “could [was able]”.
könnte = “might”, “may”, “could [would be able]”