Podcast 5 - B1/B2 ability in the present and past

Hello, and today I'm going to talk to you about expressing ability with can and be able to.

Modal auxiliaries - what are they? Well, words like can, could, may, might, would, shall, etc. And the problem is that they are defective, defective. What does that mean? Well, they're not like other verbs. They don't have an infinitive, or they don't have a past participle form. Now, that means that if we're talking about can, well, what are we going to do if we want to use can as an infinitive, or as a past participle? Well, what we have to do is to look for another verb, which has a similar meaning. And the verb we usually use, is be able to, and as it's the verb, be, well, then it has an infinitive, and it has a past participle.

Ability in past and present - Can you speak German?

So let's look at some examples. Now, in the present, it's quite straightforward. We can say he can speak German, or he is able to speak German. So what's the difference? Well, often be able to maybe more formal, or sound more formal.

Now, what about the past? Well, that's interesting, because we do have a past tense of can, which is could. So we can say, when she was two, she could swim. Or, he could read when he was three years old. And we can use able to in the past too of course, when she was two, she was able to swim. And he was able to read when he was three years old.

Then if we need an infinitive, well, we can't say, ~~I'd like to can~~, ~~I'd like to can ski~~, That's not possible. ~~I'd like to can speak German~~. That's not possible. So we have to use the infinitive. And we use be able, I'd like to be able to ski. I'd like to be able to speak German.

Now, what about the present perfect, where we need a past participle. We can't use can or could as a past participle. So we use been able to she's never been able to buy a house. She's never been able.

And then also, there's the infinitive that we need, after other auxiliaries, for example, will. He'll be able to go on holiday very soon, he'll be able to go on holiday.

Now when we're expressing the negative, we can use can't or cannot in the present, remember cannot is one word C A NN OT We cannot write, can not as two words. And of course, we can use be able to, with not. Or we can use the opposite of able, which is unable. So we can say, I'm unable to learn languages, I'm unable to learn languages, or I'm not able to learn languages, it's just too difficult for me. Or I can't, or I cannot learn languages. Cannot being rather more formal, perhaps than can't, which has the apostrophe, which perhaps would be reserved for more spoken English.

Now, the problem arises when we talk about the past, with can or could, when we talk about past ability. Now, we saw earlier that we can say he could swim when he was two. Or she could read when she was three. Now, if you think about those actions, we're talking about actions, which went over a long period in the past. She could swim when she was two. And when she was three, so it's rather a long action. We're talking about a sort of a general action in the past. She could read when she was three. So we're talking about a long action. She could read when she was three, and four, when she was five.

Now let's consider another possibility. What about my bike had a puncture, ~~but I could fix it~~. Now, this is not correct. If my bike had a puncture, that means the air came out of my bicycle tyre. And it deflated. But I ~~could~~ fix it Now, this isn't a long action. This is a specific action, a short action in the past. So we can't use could we have to use another verb. For example, able to. So we say, my bike had a puncture, but I was able to fix it. And there's another verb we use as well manage to, manage to, so we say, my bike had a puncture, but I managed to fix it. I managed to fix it. So if I say, ~~I could do my homework last night~~. Well, that's not correct either. Because could, in this particular example, is a specific action of last night. So I have to say, I was able to do my homework last night, or I managed to do my homework last night.

Now, the strange thing is, is that if we talk in the negative, well, then we can use could for those specific actions. So for example, my bike had a puncture, but I couldn't fix it. I couldn't fix it, which is perfectly correct. In the negative, we can also say, of course, I wasn't able to fix it, or I didn't manage to fix it. So the negative of the homework sentence would be, I couldn't do my homework last night, which is perfectly correct. Or I could say, I wasn't able to do my homework, or I couldn't do my homework last night.

So to confuse matters more more, there is, or there are, in fact, some verbs, which can take could as specific actions in the past. And those verbs are the verbs of the senses, like see, taste, smell, hear, feel, and sense. So it's perfectly correct to say, when we arrived at Kilimanjaro, we could see the peak, we could see the peak, we could see the top of the mountain. And another example might be, when I arrived home, I could smell my mother's cooking, I could smell my mother's cooking. So with these verbs, it's perfectly correct to use could in the past. Okay, that's all I want to say about can and could, I hope you've found it useful. That's all for now. Bye.