Expressing Ability in the Present: Can/Can't

Hi there!

It's about time we get things started in The English Beat!

Our first series of lessons is going to be about EXPRESSING ABILITY; things you can do and things you can't do in the present.

(+) CAN

We use the verb CAN when we want to express an ability; something we know how to do. 

• "I can swim." 

• "You can speak French." 

• "She can play the piano." 

• "My father can fix cars." 

*The conjugation of CAN is the same for all the pronouns. *The verbs after CAN are always in infinitive without "to".

(-) CAN'T

We use CAN'T to express things that you don't know how to do or that are impossible.

• "They can't build a house in one week." 

• "I can't speak and eat at the same time." 

• "My sister can't drive." 

• "My son can't speak yet." 

*CAN'T is a contraction of CANNOT. *It's important to pronounce the "T" in the end clearly in order to distinguish it from CAN.

(?) CAN/CAN'T

In questions, either the verb CAN or its negative form CAN'T are placed before the pronoun.

• "Can you run 10kms?" 

• "Can she cook?" 

• "Can't you play soccer?" 

• "Can't they do it themselves?" 

In this Slide you can find some other examples and illustrations:

Now a brief and helpful video to make sure you remember: