Después de aprender el Past of To Be, en esta lección aprenderemos Can / Could
Can
Can expresa habilidad. Can’t (Cannot) muestra la incapacidad.
- She can speak ten languages.
- I can’t cook.
- Can you speak Spanish?
A veces, can se usa en el sentido de may para dar permiso.
- You can go. OR You may go.
- You can take one of these shirts. OR You may take one of these shirts.
Now-a-days can is also increasingly used to ask permission.
- Can I go? OR May I go?
Could
Could es el tiempo pasado de can. Se utiliza para hablar sobre la habilidad que existió en el pasado.
- In my younger days I could run four miles at a stretch.
- Till last year I could read without glasses.
Ten en cuenta que could no siempre se refiere al tiempo pasado. Se refiere al tiempo pasado solo cuando el contexto aclara el tiempo.
Indirect speech (Discurso indirecto)
Could es el tiempo pasado de can en el discurso indirecto.
- He said, ‘ I can lift this box.’
- He said that he could lift that box.
- She said, ‘I can’t see anything.’
- She said that she couldn’t see anything.
Possibility or uncertainty (Posibilidad o incertidumbre)
- You could do it, if you tried hard.
- If my brother were here, we could have solved this problem together.
Could también se utiliza para hacer preguntas educadas.
- Could you, please, take me to the Manager?
- Could I have a look at your papers?
Notes
Can y Could ir seguido de infinitivos sin to.
- I can knit. (NOT I can to knit.)
- She could understand nothing. (NOT She could to understand nothing.)
Las preguntas y los negativos se hacen sin do.
- Can he speak English? (NOT Does he can speak English?)
- He can’t speak English. (NOT He can doesn’t speak English.)
No hay -s en tercera persona del singular.
She can sing. (NOT She can sings.)
En la próxima lección aprenderemos sobre los Quantifiers.
