Modal Verbs: |Can |Could & Be Able To - English Grammar

model verbs can and could we're also going to talk about be able to if you want to know what I did and still do to study modal verbs you have to watch this video and finally learn how to use modal words for real hey friends teacher Prix here to help you talk to anyone anywhere anytime in English thank you so much for watching another video of mine and if you're new around here make sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any of my weekly videos now if you have problems to learn modal verbs this is the lesson for you I already have one lesson about modal verbs here on my channel this is another one because there are many things we can talk about when it comes to modal verbs now the first thing you need to know when you start studying modal verbs is when you can use modal verbs and when you cannot use modal verbs a very basic step that many people don't follow and consequently they get very confused when they should use it when they don't use it and they think they're all the same thing or they never use one and they use the other so the first thing you need to do is to study when you use and when you don't use these modal verbs so first let's focus on the modal verb can I have a basic beginners guide lesson about modal verb can okay so if you want to watch it after this video hey why not now can modal verb can the first thing you need to know about it is you only use it in the present no past no future the word can okay you will see that there is a different way to use can in the past but the word can is only used in the present that's it nothing else the second thing you need to know about can is that there are specific situations when you have to use can for example permission when you are asking for permission you can use can when you are talking about ability you can use can to talk about ability and remember what's the tense? simple present yeah as if you said that congratulations and finally you can also use can to talk about possibility when you want to say that something is not possible for example you can use can now let's see some examples of ability permission and possibility so as I said you can ask for permission for example oh excuse me can I open the window now this is a very informal way to ask for permission so whenever you use can to ask for permission it's informal it's more casual okay if you are talking to someone in a more formal way can is not the best for you the second thing as I said ability and remember in the present today in the current time this current moment I use can to talk about my ability so I can speak English how about you can you speak English let me know here in the comments but I'm pretty sure you can and the third thing I said possibility when we want to talk about for example things that are not possible let's say come on you can't be hungry you had lunch thirty minutes ago you can't be hungry does this happen to you do you have lunch and after like 30 minutes you are starving to death let me know in the comments if this happens to you it happens to me sometimes I'm not gonna lie and I'm not very proud of it but I usually just have a snack or something to help me wait for the next meal now let's move on to the next one could could cannot be used in the present because could is the past of can okay first thing you need to know it's used in the past and in other specific situations now there are specific uses for could let's check them out shall we the first thing you need to do is that you can make a polite request with good what is that supposed to mean for example if I'm gonna ask someone for something I can say oh could I get some water please this is a little bit more formal than can okay so instead of saying can I get some water I can say could I get some water okay in this kind of questions when you're making polite requests it's not in the past it's just a polite way to ask okay so could I get some water could you open the window please it's so hot in here now remember if you're talking to your friends could is too formal completely unnecessary so focus on can if you're talking to people you like people you know and use could if you want to be a little bit more formal you can also offer someone something for example you have a guest in your apartment or in your house and then you want to offer them something you want to offer them some water or something you have you can say could could I get you something to drink now remember it's formal okay it's not so natural if your friends are sleeping over your place you don't need to say could you can say can okay so you can offer you can ask questions you can ask for permission with could in a little bit more formal way okay in a polite way now as I said at the beginning could is the past of can so I can talk about an ability that I had in the past so when I was a child simple past when I was a child I could not run so it's something I couldn't do but today I can okay so it is possible to use could just to talk about past abilities so if I use can I'm talking about present abilities if I use could past abilities now let's move on to the next one be able to first thing you need to know is it's not a modal verb what yes I'm sorry I said modal verbs in the title clickbait well it is not really clickbait because I did talk about modal verbs but what's, why is it important for me to show you be able to because I've had so many students who whenever they needed to talk about future things they would use can to talk about the future and this doesn't work remember the first thing I said about can only in the present could only in the past or for polite requests is permission in a polite way in a polite and formal way but how do I do it if I want to talk about future abilities future things that I think I will have the ability to do be able to that's why it's so important for me to show you this that's what many students fail to study and they try to use can in the future and that doesn't work so be able to is a normal verb okay it's just like any other verb sleep go work the difference is it's a little bit longer be verb to be you need to conjugate verbs to be able to and together this three word verb will give you the meaning of future abilities future possibilities it depends on what you're talking about so I can also use be able to in the present in the past with present perfect because be able to is a very flexible verb so depending on what you want to say it's better to use be able to rather than can or even could let's see some examples I haven't been able to sleep very well lately here I use it present perfect I haven't been able to sleep very well lately it wouldn't work in the past it wouldn't work in the present the back one I have here is be able to because I can use it in different tenses I can use it in the present perfect should give this idea of something that has been happening for some time it started in the past it continued in the present and there's a good chance it'll continue in the future present perfect another thing you can do with be able to is to use this verb in the middle of sentences you cannot do that with can or could for example you needs to be able to speak two languages in order to apply for this job I cannot do that with can I can't just throw can in the middle of a phrase as a complement verb to another verb I can't do that but I can do that with be able to future hmm I will be able to travel when I finish all my projects so I'm saying that I will have the possibility I'll have the possibility to travel I will be able to travel when I finish all my projects I also have a post on my blog so make sure to check it out I will leave the links down below in the descriptions and remember modal verbs can be simple and easy we don't need to complicate it all you need to know is when exactly you need to use them and what the best situations for you to use those modal verbs I hope you enjoyed this video make sure to subscribe so that you can watch all my videos and keep up with all the lessons I post here thank you so much friends and I'll see you next time bye

Channel: Teacher Prix

Views: 11,389

Keywords: Modal verbs, can and could, could and can, english, teacher Prix, how to use modal verbs, be able and can, can could and be able to, verbs, english grammar

Id: fVBWooFh6AU

Length: 10min 31sec (631 seconds)

Published: Wed May 02 2018