Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my channel Sparkle English where I teach you how to improve
your level of English.
In today's lesson, I'm going to teach you about the modal verb can.
Can is one of the most common modal verbs in English.
We use can and can't to talk about ability and possibility.
We also use can for requests and permission.
Can is a modal verb.
Modal verbs are followed by an infinitive without to.
We always begin with the subject.
I can, you can, he can, she can, it can, we can, they can.
Note that with modal verbs, we do not say he cans, or she cans, like we do with other
verbs.
With modal verbs, can stays the same for all the subjects.
Let's look at some examples.
Louie can swim really fast.
I can't come to your wedding next weekend.
Can you help me with something?
Can I go to Javier's house tomorrow?
We're going to talk about how to use can or can't with ability, possibility, requests,
and permission.
First, let's talk about can or can't with ability.
So as we said before, in the affirmative form, we start with the subject plus can.
For example, Steven can ride a bicycle.
This means that Steven knows how to ride a bicycle.
They can speak French.
That means the people know how to speak French.
They have the ability to speak French.
I can play the piano.
I know how to play the piano.
To make the negative form of can, we say can't.
Can't is the short form for cannot.
So let's make each of these affirmative sentences negative using can't.
Steven can't ride a bicycle.
They can't speak French.
That means they don't know how to speak French.
I can't play the piano.
Now, how do we make questions using can?
We don't say "Do I can?"
We say: Can I?
Can you?
Can he?
Can she?
For example.
Can Steven ride a bicycle?
Can they speak French?
Can you play the piano?
And with modal verbs, to make a short answer, we would say: yes, I can.
Or no, I can't.
Can Steven ride a bicycle?
Yes, he can.
Or no, he can't.
Now let's look at can or can't with possibility.
For example, I can come to the meeting tomorrow.
That means that I am available.
If I say I will come to the meeting tomorrow, that means it is certain.
I am 100% definitely coming to the meeting tomorrow.
However, can means I have the possibility of coming.
I am free.
I am available.
I can come to the meeting tomorrow.
I have no other plans.
Sarah can meet you for coffee on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon.
That means Sarah is available.
Now let's turn these into negative sentences.
I can't come to the meeting tomorrow.
That means I am busy.
I have other plans.
Sarah can't meet you for coffee on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon.
She is busy those days.
Can you come to the meeting tomorrow?
Can Sarah meet me for coffee on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon?
Now let's look at can or can't with permissions and requests.
We often use can to ask for permission or to give permission.
This is very common for students to ask teachers questions using can or their parents.
For example, Can I open the window?
Here we are asking for permission.
Can I go to the bathroom?
You can use a dictionary during your English exam.
Here we are giving permission.
You can use a dictionary.
It is allowed.
We also use can to make requests.
Can you help me open this jar?
Can we order a large pepperoni pizza?
We use can't to say what you must not do.
For example, you can't smoke inside the building.
That means you are not allowed to smoke.
You mustn't smoke.
Mustn't is much stronger than can't.
But in both cases, it means you are not allowed.
It is forbidden.
We can't park here.
There is a no parking sign.
Okay, so now we're going to do a practice session using can or can't.
Are these sentences correct or incorrect?
If they are incorrect, you must correct them.
Number one, I can drive a truck.
Number two, she doesn't can swim very well.
Number three, do you can speak Japanese?
Number four, I can't go to your party tomorrow night.
Number five.
She cans snowboard, but she can't ski.
Number six.
Can you help me move next weekend?
Number seven.
Yes, I _____.
rNumber eight.
No, I _____.
For seven and eight, fill out how you would answer number six.
The short answer using can or can't.
Okay, so now we're going to correct these together.
Number one is correct.
I can drive a truck.
That is correct.
The use of can is correct.
Number two is incorrect.
She doesn't can swim very well.
We don't say doesn't to make can negative.
We say can't.
She can't swim very well.
Number three is also incorrect.
We don't say "Do you can speak Japanese?"
We say can you speak Japanese?
Number four is correct.
I can't go to your party tomorrow night.
Number five is incorrect.
She cans snowboard.
We don't add an S to modal verbs.
She can snowboard, but she can't ski.
Number six is correct.
Can you help me move next weekend?
And number seven, we would say yes, I can.
That is the short answer.
For number six.
Yes, I can.
And number eight, the negative short answer.
No, I can't.
Okay, so let me know in the comments section how many you got correct out of eight.
I also want you to practice writing some sentences using can and can't.
What can you do?
Do you have any special skills?
What are three things you can do?
And what are two things you can't do?
So here we are using can and can't to talk about our abilities or our skills.
For example, I can drive a car, rollerblade, and play the piano.
I can't snowboard or play the guitar.
I don't know how to snowboard or play the guitar.
So I want you to write some of your special skills in the comments section of this video.
Thank you guys for watching.
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You can also click on the description below this video to see my other lessons on other
modal verbs in English.
Thank you once again for watching, and I will see you in my next lesson!