Name: 925 English Lesson 19 - How to Talk about Ability in English | Business English
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T17:40:26.000Z
Duration: 9 min 31 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...

Present continuous

You're learning with nine to five English Business English for the workplace.

Hi, Tim here with another 9 to 5 English lesson.

Future simple

In today's lesson, we're going to learn how to talk about abilities.

There are lots of opportunities at work to talk about your abilities.

But there's also work planning, project meetings, and just discussing who should do what on a daily basis.

I mean, you're not going to ask the person who doesn't have the ability to type to prepare that big report, right?

The simplest way to talk about basic abilities is using the words can and be able to.

So you might say, I can type 60 words a minute, or I am able to type 60 words a minute.

How about a bit of practice talking about basic abilities?

Listen to each sentence, then repeat it for yourself.

I can use the full Microsoft Office suite.

Harriet is able to speak Japanese fairly well.

In public speaking, As you just practiced, you can also say you are good at something, such as presenting or bookkeeping.

That means you have the ability in that area.

But what if you're really good at something?

What if your ability isn't basic but advanced?

You can say you excel at something, which means you're not just good at it, but

Or you can say that some ability is your greatest strength.

That expression might be especially useful in a job interview.

This time, you're talking about things you're very good at.

Once again, you're going to repeat the examples after you hear them.

One of my greatest strengths is managing people.

I'm really confident in my sales abilities.

If you say you're confident in some ability, it means you think you're very good at it.

Confidence is important, so don't be afraid to express it.

But being confident doesn't mean saying you can do everything.

And how can we talk about things we can't do?

And the opposite of be able to is unable to.

Let's try these opposite expressions to talk about things you cannot do.

I'm unable to stay focused during long meetings.

You now have the ability to talk about things you can and cannot do.

I mean, what if you were good at something in the past but can't do it anymore?

The simplest way to talk about a past ability is with the word could, which is the past of can.

For example, when I was in college, I could learn new words very easily.

That used to expression is for something that you did in the past, but not now.

How about a little practice for talking about past abilities?

When I lived in Spain, I could speak Spanish fluently.

Quinn was good at Photoshop when he first started here.

I used to be able to work 60 hours a week.

Remember when we talked about being good at something?

It's as easy as saying you were good at it.

And it's often helpful to say when you could do something as you just practiced.

Ok, now, how does talking about abilities sound in a conversation?

Let's find out with a short dialogue between Shelley and Andrew.

Shelley is asking Andrew about his language abilities.

So tell me, can you speak any foreign languages?

Yes, I'm pretty good at French and German.

As you heard, Andrew is pretty good at French and German, but he's unable to speak Spanish.

We'll repeat the dialog, but this time we're going to beep out the second speaker's words.

You will have to say those parts yourself.

Remember to start by saying that you're pretty good at two languages.

Then you'll say you are unable to speak another language.

For this lesson, we've learned some great ways to talk about things you can or cannot do.

Tune in next time when you'll learn how to ask for and give advice.

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925 English Lesson 19 - How to Talk about Ability in English | Business English

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