Abilities

Expressing abilities
About this template

Present Can, be able to, manage to I can speak English fluently.

Past Could, be able to, manage to They weren’t able to open the door.

Perfect Be able to, managed to Has she managed to finish the paper yet?

Future Be able to, manage to He won’t be able to come here on time.

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 Can/Can not = can’t= Cannot
1. Talking about somebody’s ability or inability to do something:
◉ Leah can fly a plane.
◉ I can’t speak Portuguese.
2. Talking about something that is possible or impossible:
◉ Can you start work tomorrow?
◉ I can’t miss school today.

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 Be able
Abouttothis
= Manage
template to

Present am/is/are able to Sarah is able to move that car.

Past was/were able to They weren’t able to open the door.

Perfect have/has been able to Has Johnny been able to finish the paper yet?

Future will be able to My parents won’t be able to come here on time.

Present manage/manages to I manage to say some words and expressions in French.

Past managed to They managed to open the door.

Perfect have/has managed to Has Johnny managed to finish the paper yet?

Future will manage to My parents won’t manage to come here on time.

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 Be able to = Managed to
1. Talking about something that is difficult to achieve and requires skill or
effort:
◉ Hannah wasn’t able to find a new job.
◉ Hannah didn’t manage to find a new job.
2. Because can has no an infinitive or a present perfect form, we must use be
able to or manage to:
◉ I’d like to be able to dance a little bit of salsa.
◉ Lamar has finally managed to quit drinking after all these years!

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Could - be able to & manage to
1. Talking about a general ability in the past we use could more often than
was/were able to:
◉ Most of the people at the conference could speak English.
◉ My mom couldn’t read the newspaper without wearing her glasses
yesterday.
2. Talking about something that was difficult to achieve and required skill or
effort:
◉ Nicole was able to get a job after she graduated from college.
◉ It was very icy, but I managed to keep the car on the road.

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 Notes
1. Couldn’t sometimes mean wasn’t/weren’t allowed to:
◉ I explained to people that visitors couldn’t touch the paintings.
2. Before perception verbs (see, hear, feel, smell, taste, etc.) and verbs like
understand and remember we normally use could rather than was/were able
to:
◉ Francesca could see the cookies, but she couldn’t reach them.
3. We can also use couldn’t or wasn’t/weren’t able to in negative forms,
even though couldn’t is more common:
◉ I couldn’t stop a girl from touching a painting.
◉ I wasn’t able to stop a girl from touching a painting.

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 Succeed in + Verb(ing)
To refer to the ability to do something. It is similar to manage to.
We use it to talk about something that is difficult and requires skill or effort.
Examples:
1. John finally succeeded in finding a parking space.
2. Anna succeeded in passing her driving test on the third attempt.