9/9/21 5:07 7Speaking LMS

Taller de gramática
Tu coach lingüístico te invita a chatear Acepto Rechazo
Ability (can, could, be able to)

Basic knowledge

We use can, could or be able to to talk about ability, opportunity or what is possible or not:

We can play football.

We are able to play football/We know how to play football/It isn't forbidden to play
football/We have the opportunity of playing football.
I'll go to London tomorrow and I'll be able to do some shopping.

We often use can or could with verbs of perception (e.g.see, hear, smell):

We can see the church tower from here.

I could hear a train in the distance.

More about it

To talk about the ability or the opportunity we had to do something in the past , we use
was/were able to when the action really happened:

We don't use could in this case.

I was able to meet him.
I really met him. We cannot use could in such a case.

It is possible to use could to talk about ability in a situation we are imagining. Then, could equals
to would be able to:

You couldn't do that, it's too difficult.

You wouldn't be able to do that.

Expertise

We can use could or was/were able to in questions or negative statements:

Could you understand what he said? No, I couldn't. He talked to fast!

Were you able to do some shopping? No, I wasn't. I hadn't enough time.

Beware of questions beginning with could you… ? Very often, they are requests:

https://user.7speaking.com/workshop/linguistic-content/grammar/detail-sheet/24 1/2
9/9/21 5:07 7Speaking LMS

Could you help me find my files, please?

Tu coach lingüístico te invita a chatear Acepto Rechazo

Privacy Policy - Managing cookies - Terms and conditions of use - Legal information

https://user.7speaking.com/workshop/linguistic-content/grammar/detail-sheet/24 2/2