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  • Hi, everybody.

  • I'm Esther and in this video I'm going to teach you how to ask someone for permission

  • Okay so before I teach you that,

  • let's first talk about what permission means.

  • Okay so...

  • When you want to ask someone if it's okay to do something, you're asking for permission.

  • Okay again, you want to do something, you don't know if it's okay, so you ask someone.

  • For example, maybe you want to borrow something.

  • Then you should ask someone.

  • If you just take it that's stealing, right?

  • So you have to ask.

  • Is it okay? Alright?

  • So there are three ways to ask for permission in English.

  • The first way is to say, "Can I...?" "Can I...?" Okay.

  • The second way is "Could I...?" "Could I...?"

  • And the third way is, "May I...?" "May I...?" Okay.

  • So 'can I', 'could I', and 'may I' are all good

  • ways to ask for permission.

  • But the third one, 'may I', is more polite. Okay.

  • So if you want to ask somebody who has more power,

  • maybe your parents, may be your teacher,

  • then you should say 'may I'.

  • Maybe even to somebody that you don't know very well,

  • it's better to say may I because again it's more polite.

  • So let's look at these examples.

  • Okay so I've written 'can I', 'could I', and 'may I'

  • on the board.

  • Remember, after these three, you have to say a verb.

  • Okay so let's look at the verbs.

  • 'help' 'see' 'have' 'call' 'borrow' 'go' 'speak' and 'go' again.

  • Okay so I know I went through that a little bit quickly but

  • we're going to go through it slowly now.

  • Okay so here's what we'll do.

  • I'm going to read and try to switch some around. Okay?

  • So... "Can I help you?"

  • "Can I help you?"

  • let's try that a little bit faster.

  • "Can I help you?"

  • "Can I help you?"

  • Now remember, you can also say 'could I' and 'may I'.

  • For example, if you're walking through a department store,

  • and the salesperson comes to you,

  • they would probably say, "May I help you?" because they want to be polite to the customer.

  • So again, "May I help you?"

  • Okay.

  • "Can I see you again?"

  • "Can I see you again?"

  • A little bit faster.

  • "Can I see you again?"

  • Maybe you like someone you met them and you like them

  • and you want to see them again next time,

  • So you say, "Can I see you again?"

  • Okay.

  • "Can I have some water?"

  • "Can I have some water?"

  • A little bit faster.

  • "Can I have some water?"

  • Okay.

  • Let's try a couple with 'could'.

  • "Could I call you later?"

  • "Could I call you later?"

  • Again, remember, you can use all three, but we're doing 'could'.

  • "Could I call you later?"

  • "Could I borrow some money?"

  • Okay. You usually borrow money from a friend or somebody that you know,

  • so that's why it's better to say maybe 'can I' or 'could I'.

  • "Could I borrow some money?"

  • Okay.

  • "Could I go?"

  • "Could I go?"

  • You want to leave, so you're asking if it's okay.

  • "Could I go?"

  • Okay and remember 'may I' is polite okay

  • you want to say that to someone who's a little bit more important,

  • maybe someone you don't know.

  • Again you would use 'may I'.

  • So "May I speak to mr. Kim?"

  • Maybe you called his office, okay, so you say,

  • "May I speak to mr. Kim?"

  • And the last one -

  • "May I go to the bathroom?"

  • This one is maybe if you're asking a teacher.

  • Right? You're in class and you have to go, you can ask a teacher

  • "May I go to the bathroom?"

  • Again, 'can I' 'could' 'can' and 'could' are both okay.

  • But maybe it's more polite....

  • If you want to be polite, you should say,

  • "May I go to the bathroom?"

  • And I'm sure the teacher will like that better because you're being polite.

  • Okay. So...

  • In this video we learned three ways to ask for permission.

  • Let's go through them one more time.

  • can I

  • could I and may I

  • Okay well I hope I helped and I'll see you guys next time.

  • Bye.

Hi, everybody.

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