You're learning with nine to five English - business English for the workplace.
Hi Tim here with another 9 to 5 English lesson. In today's lesson we're
going to learn how to talk about abilities. There are lots of
opportunities at work to talk about your abilities and I don't just mean job
interviews. That's an obvious one but there's also work planning project
meetings and just discussing who should do what on a daily basis. I mean you're
not going to ask the person who doesn't have the ability to type to prepare that
big report right the simplest way to talk about basic abilities is using the
words can and be able to so you might say I can type 60 words a minute
or I am able to type 60 words a minute it's that simple
how about a bit of practice talking about basic abilities let's try some
examples listen to each sentence then repeat it for yourself ready let's get
started I can use the full Microsoft Office
suite
Harriett is able to speak Japanese fairly well
I'm pretty good at presentations in public speaking
as you just practiced you can also say you are good at something such as
presenting or bookkeeping that means you have the ability in that area but what
if you're really good at something what if your ability isn't basic but advanced
in that case you have a few options you can say you excel at something which
means you're not just good at it but excellent at it or you can say that some
ability is your greatest strength that expression might be especially useful in
a job interview let's give these expressions a try this
time you're talking about things you're very
good at once again you're going to repeat the examples after you hear them
I really excel at website design
one of my greatest strengths is managing people
I'm really confident in my sales abilities
did you notice that last example if you say you're confident in some ability it
means you think you're very good at it confidence is important so don't be
afraid to express it but being confident doesn't mean saying you can do
everything there are some abilities you don't have and how can we talk about
things we can't do well that word can't is one way it's just the opposite of can
and the opposite of be able to is unable to let's try these opposite expressions
to talk about things you cannot do I can't understand this new software
I'm unable to stay focused during long meetings
I'm not very good at presentations
great work you now have the ability to talk about things you can and cannot do
but wait a second how can we talk about past abilities I mean what if you were
good at something in the past but can't do it anymore
the simplest way to talk about a past ability is with the word could which is
the past of can for example when I was in college I could learn new words very
easily you can also say you used to be able to that used to expression is for
something that you did in the past but not now how about a little practice for
talking about past abilities repeat the examples after you hear them when I
lived in Spain I could speak Spanish fluently
Quinn was good at Photoshop when he first started here
I used to be able to work 60 hours a week but not anymore
remember when we talked about being good at something well in the past it's as
easy as saying you were good at it and it's often helpful to say when you
could do something as you just practiced okay now how does talking about
abilities sound in a conversation let's find out with the short dialogue between
Shelley and Andrew Shelley is asking Andrew about his language abilities so
tell me can you speak any foreign languages yes I'm pretty good at French
and German I see and do you know any Spanish no I'm unable to speak Spanish
as you heard Andrew is pretty good at French and German but he's unable to
speak Spanish pretty simple right now it's your turn to practice will repeat
the dialogue but this time we're going to be bout the second speakers words you
will have to say those parts yourself remember to start by saying that you're
pretty good at two languages then you'll say you are unable to speak another
language here we go so tell me can you speak any foreign languages
I see and do you know any Spanish
all right that about does it for this lesson
we've learned some great ways to talk about things you can or cannot do tune
in next time when you'll learn how to ask for and give advice until then so
long and happy learning