Using “Can” and “Could” in English

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“Can” and “could” are modal verbs used to talk about ability, possibility, and permission.

  • “Can” is used for the present or future:
    • Ability: “I can swim.”
    • Permission: “You can leave early.”
    • Possibility: “We can go to the park tomorrow.”
  • “Could” is used for the past or as a polite form:
    • Past Ability: “She could play piano when she was five.”
    • Polite Permission: “Could I borrow your pen?”
    • Polite Suggestion: “You could try this restaurant.”

The negative forms are “cannot” (can’t) and “could not” (couldn’t). Both are followed by the base form of the verb.

More Examples

Using “Can”

  1. I can use this app to find directions.
  2. She can cook pasta very well.
  3. They can join the meeting at 3 p.m.

Using “Could”

  1. I could read when I was five.
  2. He couldn’t answer the question yesterday.
  3. Could you please turn off the lights?

Negative Examples

  1. I can’t hear you; the music is too loud.
  2. She couldn’t finish the project on time.
  3. We can’t go to the beach today because it’s raining.

Interrogative Examples

  1. Can I borrow your book?
  2. Could he fix the problem?
  3. Can they help us move this weekend?

Table of Forms

Using “Can”

PersonPositiveNegativeInterrogative
II can speak English.I cannot (can’t) speak.Can I speak English?
YouYou can ride a bike.You cannot (can’t) ride.Can you ride a bike?
He/She/ItHe can drive a car.He cannot (can’t) drive.Can he drive a car?
WeWe can play football.We cannot (can’t) play.Can we play football?
TheyThey can cook dinner.They cannot (can’t) cook.Can they cook dinner?

Using “Could”

PersonPositiveNegativeInterrogative
II could swim as a child.I could not (couldn’t) swim.Could I swim as a child?
YouYou could ask for help.You could not (couldn’t) ask.Could you ask for help?
He/She/ItHe could play the guitar.He could not (couldn’t) play.Could he play the guitar?
WeWe could see the stars.We could not (couldn’t) see.Could we see the stars?
TheyThey could run fast.They could not (couldn’t) run.Could they run fast?

Keep learning:

Go to this post to learn more about using ‘must’ in English.

Go here to learn how to use ‘should’ in English.

In this post, you’ll learn more about using ‘can’ and ‘could’ in English.

If you click here, you can learn more about ‘may’ and ‘might’ in English.

Here’s a text about using ‘need to’ and ‘have got to’ as modal verbs in English.

Here’s how ‘will’ and ‘would’ are used in English.