VERB CAN

Can has five main uses:

1. to talk about abilities ( saber ) :

I can swim, I can drive, I cant dance

2. to talk about possibility:

I cant wait
I cant hear the noise
I cant sleep

That cant be true

He cant be at home
I cant understand

they can buy the car

I cant remember
Can you see that?

3. to express prohibition (CANT):

We cant park here

smoke here

You cant speak Spanish in class

You cant

4. to talk about or ask for permission to do something. In these sentences the subject is normally
I or we:

Can I go to the toilet, please?

Can I close the window?
Can we come in?

I cant go out this weekend

Can I read your paper?
Can we go now?

5. to make requests/ask for favours. The modal verbs could /k$d/ and will are also used to
make formal requests. In these sentences the subject is normally you:

Can you help me with this exercise, please?

Can you repeat, please?
Could you write that on the board, please?
Can you wait for me, please?
Could you close the door, please?
Can you turn off your mobiles,
please?
*Can I have a coffee, please? / *Can I have your name, please?
(asking for something anywhere: coffee bar, cinema, shop.)
Answers:
- Yes, of course/certainly!
- Yes, sure!

Im afraid I cant (right now)

- Im sorry, I cant

Structure:
affirmative :
negative
interrogative :

Subject + can [kn] or /kn/+ Verb (infinitive) +

Complements
Subject + cant [ka:nt] + Verb (inf.) + Complements
(Question word) + can [kn] + Subject + Verb (inf.) +
Complements?
Short answers: Yes, Pronoun + can [kn].
no weak form

No, Pronoun + cant [ka:nt].