Grammar ~20 min of the core left

Say what you can do

After this lesson you can

I can say what I can and can't do, ask for something politely and ask for permission.

Start the lesson Core 18–20 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

4 min

can — ability and possibility. After it, the verb comes WITHOUT to.

I can swim. I know how to swim.
She can't drive. She doesn't know how to drive.
Can you cook? Do you know how to cook?
Yes, I can. / No, I can't. A short answer.

can takes no -s in the third person and needs no do in a question — it is a helping verb itself: He can swim, Can he swim?, He can't swim.

The second job of can — a polite request and permission:

Can you repeat that, please? Please say it again.
Can I have a coffee, please? Please give me a coffee.
Can I sit here? Is it all right if I sit here?

This is the second step of the ladder that began in lessons 1 and 16: there you had Sorry? and A coffee, please — the shortest forms. Now you have a more polite one. The third, Could you…, waits for you at A2: could is, in form, the past of can, and there is no point in studying it before can feels natural.

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Common learner errors

written for your language
1

can with to

✗ I can to swim

✓ I can swim

In many languages the verb after "can" has its own infinitive ending (Spanish puedo nadar, French je peux nager, Portuguese posso nadar), and learners translate that infinitive as to swim. The habit from lesson 19 (want to) adds to it.

2

can with do

✗ Do you can swim?

✗ I don't can

✓ Can you swim?

I can't. Learners of every language make this error just after lesson 8: they put do in front of every verb. But can makes its own questions and negatives, like be.

3

-s in the third person

✗ He cans swim

✓ He can swim

This is the lesson 9 rule (he works) used where it does not belong. can never takes -s.

Pronunciation

3 min

can and can't differ not in a consonant, but in the vowel and its length.

sounds how
can (in a statement) /kən/ weak, short, almost just "kn"
can't /kɑːnt/ a long vowel, stressed
can (in a short answer) /kæn/ stressed

That is why I can swim and I can't swim sound different because of the length of the vowel, not because of the sound t — in fast speech you often do not hear the t at all.

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Text

3 min

I can swim and I can cook, but I can't drive. My brother can drive. He can't cook — he eats in cafés. — Can you play the guitar? — No, I can't. But I can sing. — Can I have a glass of water, please?

Reading aloud

Exercises

8–10 min

1. Gap fill.

  1. I (+) swim, but I (−) drive
  2. you cook?
  3. He play the guitar — he studies music
Show the answers
can / can't, Can, can.

2. Error correction.

  1. I can to swim.
  2. Do you can drive?
  3. He cans cook.
Show the answers
I can swim. / Can you drive? / He can cook.

3. Transformation.

Make a question and a negative from She can drive.

Show the answers
Can she drive? / She can't drive.

4. Matching.

  1. Can you repeat that, please?
  2. Can I have a coffee, please?
  3. Can I sit here?
Show the answers
`Can you repeat that, please?` — you didn't hear; `Can I have a coffee, please?` — in a café; `Can I sit here?` — on a train, the seat next to you is free.
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Summary

Covered

  • can and can't in all forms
  • a polite request and permission with can

Next — lesson 21: how to ask where things are.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 21

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

12 words
  • drive /draɪv/ to make a car go and control it
  • play /pleɪ/ to take part in a game, or to make music on an instrument
  • ride /raɪd/ to sit on a horse or a bicycle and make it go
  • ski /skiː/ to move over snow on long, narrow boards
  • guitar /ɡɪˈtɑː/ a musical instrument with six strings
  • piano /piˈænəʊ/ a large musical instrument with black and white keys
  • bicycle /ˈbaɪsɪkl/ a vehicle with two wheels that you move with your feet
  • badly /ˈbædli/ not well
  • again /əˈɡen/ one more time
  • slowly /ˈsləʊli/ not fast
  • help /help/ to do something for someone to make things easier for them
  • understand /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ to know what something means

Writing

Four sentences: what you can do, what you can't do, what someone in your family can do.

Example

I can swim and cook. I can't drive. My brother can drive, but he can't cook.

Checklist

The draft is saved on this device
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Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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