Name: Expressing Ability to Do Something with CAN, COULD or BE ABLE TO - English Grammar
Uploaded: 2020-03-25T04:07:40.000Z
Duration: 11 min 6 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

To-infinitive

I want to speak really English from your first lesson.

The imperative

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In this lesson, we're going to talk about some expressions you can use to talk about your abilities.

So I'm going to introduce some expressions you can use for the past for the present and for the future.

These are just a few examples of some ways you can talk about the things you can could and will be able to do.

So let's take a look with a few examples of each pattern.

Okay, let's start with the 1st 1 I can, plus a verb.

So here the subject in the sample pattern is I.

But we can replace I with, for example, he or she or it or they.

The same is true for all of the other patterns I'm going to introduce in this lesson.

So we use I can, plus a verb as sort of the basic, most simple way to express something we are able to do.

So example sentences I can speak English.

I've changed the subject to Shi Shi so she can.

She can run five k five k beating five kilometers in 30 minutes.

So these are just some simple, very basic ways to express something we can do we're able to do.

Of course, we can use the negative for this.

We can make the negative with this pattern too.

So this is maybe the most basic way to express something you can do you are able to do.

This expression is I know how to plus a verb.

I know how to do something so we can use the same verbs we used in the first pattern in this pattern.

If you like, for example, I know how to speak English is fine.

However we use know how to do something for something that requires, like, study or something that requires maybe a process.

So a sentence like I know how to run five K.

It's not quite so natural because running isn't really necessarily a topic of study.

Running requires practice, Yes, but it's not really something we study.

So we use know how to do something for something We have learned how to do so Not necessarily physical practice of something.

So photo shop is a piece of software, something we can study something.

So here, this is something we need to study.

In other words, so there's a process to baking cookies.

So please keep in mind as we see in this example, when we change the subject from I to, for example, he she or it the following verb No needs to change.

So don't forget this s however, this burb does not change.

He knows how to bake cook cookies so we don't need to modify this for will only modify the 1st 1 which is attached to he the subject.

Okay, so this is for a process, something we study to become able to do.

Now let's talk about a couple of past tense example.

So these two are maybe present tense expressions.

Let's talk about some past tense example Sentences.

The 1st 1 when I was a kid, I could and our verb.

So here I've said when I was a kid, you can change this.

Of course, when I was a student when I was an elementary school student Ah, when I lived in a different city, for example So this part can change to a different time period in your life.

Could I could So this implies this suggests that maybe this action is not possible for you.

So when I was a kid, I could swim all day long.

So this sentence sounds like now I can't really, um, it's It's just a simple expression.

With past tense, I could I could, um So maybe the speaker is going to share some or information about their current ability, But here I've used when I was a kid again.

You can change this to like when I was, uh, in swimming club, for example, I could swim all day long so there are a lot of different variations you can use with this powder.

Anyway, let's look at another example when you work it.

So maybe if a parent wants to talk to their son or daughter about their childhood, they can use this expression.

So when you were a kid, you could sleep for 12 hours straight SOS, 12 hours straight means 12 hours nonstop.

So you is my subject here When you therefore Waas In my example pattern changes to where When you were a kid, you could sleep for 12 hours straight.

So again, this is a past tense expression.

Let's look at one more past tense expression Maybe you're familiar with used to used to.

So here we have used to So maybe, you know, I used to followed by just a simple verb.

So, like I used to cook every day or I used to exercise every day here we introduced I used to be able to.

This expression allows us to explain an ability we had in the past.

Here is my verb to speak Spanish used to shows, Ah, long time ago.

In the past, I had this ability, but now I do not.

So remember the nuance of used to is that something was true in the past, and it is not true now.

I used to also please consider the pronunciation here so not used to.

But native speakers connect the D and the T sound at the end of Yuste and too, so it's not used to, but used to used to.

So think of it as dropping the D used to.

She used to be able to baby sit, meaning her schedule maybe has changed.

So here we have some expressions with use to to a talk about a past ability.

Okay, finally, let's end with one example ah, pattern that you can use to talk about future possibilities or future abilities so you can use this when you want to make a guess about the future, so something you think you might be able to do in the future.

So the base pattern is in the future will be able to verb.

So here I have we in my example, we will.

So wheel is the contracted form of we will and I've used we.

In this case, we means all people, all people, all members of society.

So some examples of this in the future we'll be able to use a eye technology A I artificial intelligence ai ai technology.

In the future, we'll be able to use a eye technology.

So you might wonder, Why am I using will here instead of like going to, For example, we use will when we're making a guess about the future that we can't really see so we can't see what's going to happen in the future.