Level: beginner
We use can and can't to talk about someone's skill or general abilities:
She can speak several languages.
He can swim like a fish.
They can't dance very well.
We use can and can't to talk about the ability to do something at a specific time in the present or future:
I can see you.
Help! I can't breathe.
We use could and couldn't to talk about the past:
She could speak several languages.
I couldn't see you.
- Ability: can and could 1
- Ability: can and could 2
Level: intermediate
We use could have to say that someone had the ability or opportunity to do something, but did not do it:
She could have learned Swahili, but she didn't want to.
I could have danced all night. [but I didn’t]
- Ability: could have 1
- Ability: could have 2
Average
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What's the different between he can speak several languages and she could speak several languages ?
Hello AHMED-22,
In this context, which is describing ability, 'can' is the present form and describes his ability now. 'Could' is the past form and describes his ability in the past. We would probably use 'could' if the person is no longer alive, for example, or has forgotten the languages for some reason.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello sir ,
Can we replace could to can in any situation,
For example we replace it in impossibility when we use sentence like cannot have got lost .
Can we do same thing in ability with sentence like she could have learned English , we say she can have learned English .
Hi g-ssan,
No, sometimes their meanings are different. For ability, can refers to the present and could refers to the past. Also, to talk about past opportunities, you can say could have but can have is ungrammatical.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello sir ,
What about couldn’t have in ability what’s it mean ?
for example : ( I couldn’t have danced all night but i want to ).
Hello g-ssan,
I'm afraid that sentence doesn't really make sense because 'couldn't have' refers to the past, but 'I want to' refers to the present.
If you meant to say 'I couldn't have danced all night, but I wanted to', I'm afraid this doesn't work either. When we're speaking about ability, 'could have' has this specific meaning of having the opportunity to do something but not doing it. It's not used in a negative form in this way, i.e. 'couldn't have' does not mean you didn't have the opportunity to do something but did it anyway. This doesn't make sense because you can't do something that you don't have the opportunity to do.
I hope this helps you make sense of it.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi omer3939,
Yes! Here are some examples I found.
But overall, it seems more common to use this word to refer to human (or animate) abilities.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Yigido,
That sentence sounds wrong to me. Perhaps it would make sense in its context, but looking at it now, I can't imagine how it is correct.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
When we use needn't have it means we did something and it was not necessary.
When we use didn't need to it is not clear if we did something or not.
For example:
I didn't need to go to work. [we don't know if I went to work or not]
I needn't have gone to work. [I went to work and it was not necessary]
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Zeeshan Siddiqii
I would recommend saying 'we shouldn't call our streets a mess' or something similar here. 'should' works better because you are describing the best thing to talk about the streets in this situation. Note that 'distress' isn't really appropriate in this context in standard British English -- I think 'mess', the word you used earlier, works better here.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
All three options are grammatically correct.
I think the third option (need to) is the best, but the second (have to) is also possible. The first option (must) does not seem a natural choice in any normal context.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
In the context you provided, we would not use must.
Please note that we generally do not comment on questions from other sources. We're happy to answer questions about our own material or about the language generally, but we don't check exercises or questions from textbooks or similar sources.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team