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Speaker 1: Is it I can do that, or I'm able to

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do that. I could do that, or I was able

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to do that? And what about I'll be able to

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do that? Today, it's all about ability and possibility. Let's

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check it out.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight oh five.

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Talk about ability, using can, could and be able to.

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When you want to talk about ability, you can use

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either can or be able to. Can and be able

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to are similar in meaning, but the way we use

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them is different. And that's what we're going to run

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through today. When you talk about someone's general or usual ability,

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you can use both be able to and can, but

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can is more conversational, like did you know that I

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can play the guitar? Well? I can, It's true. And

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here's another fun fact about me. Aside from English, I

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can speak Japanese. One of my students is Italian and

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she can speak English, Japanese, Spanish, and French. That's quite

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a language ability. So when you use can, like this

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to talk about someone's general or usual ability. There's no

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special nuance connected to can. Like when I say that

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Jack can cook Chinese food, it just means that he

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has that ability, nothing more. On the other hand, when

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you talk about ability using be able to, there's a

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nuance that there may have been some reason or condition

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that prevents you from having that ability. Let me give

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you an example. My cousin learned how to play the

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piano when she was growing up, but for the past

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several years she lived in a small studio apartment, so

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there was no place for her piano. That changed a

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few weeks ago when she moved into a house in

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the suburbs. There's plenty of space for her piano, and

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now finally she's able to play the piano. She is

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able to play the piano, she overcame the condition that

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prevented her from doing that for the past several years.

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This distinction between can and be able to is also

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the same when we are talking about ability in the future.

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Like if a friend says, let's have dinner after work tomorrow,

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can you make it at six? I would reply, I

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have to work till five thirty, so I can make

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it to the restaurant by six point thirty. We tend

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to use can for future plans or arrangements when the

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timing or situation is relatively certain, like the weather is

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going to be nice this weekend, so we can go

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to the park on Saturday. On the other hand, we

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tend to use ba able to when we talk about

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a condition in the future or an uncertain possibility in

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the future, like with more practice, you're gonna be able

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to speak English fluently. Your ability to speak English fluently

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depends on the practice you put in. Here's another example.

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I have to work late tomorrow, so I don't know

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if I will be able to make it to the

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party on time. My work schedule is the condition that

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will determine my ability to make it to the party

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on time. Now that you know this, you can speak

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more precisely about your ability in the future. So what

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about the past. Well, first of all, the past of

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can is could, and we use could when we talk

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about someone's general ability in the past, Like when Donna

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was a kid, she could play the piano really well.

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Playing the piano was her general ability. And Donna's brother

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could play tennis and handball. He used to be pretty

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good at those sports, and we could when we talk

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about someone's general ability to do something in the past.

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On the other hand, we tend to use was able

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to when we talk about a specific event or a

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particular situation where someone succeeded in doing something like even

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though it took a lot of paperwork and meetings, Jack

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was finally able to get Alan to start his new business.

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Here's another example. Yesterday, my coworker Anna told me that

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she lost her keys, and I was wondering about that

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this morning. So when I saw her, I asked her,

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were you able to find your keys? In situations like this,

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we don't use could. Keep in mind, the best way

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to remember English like this and any other word or

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phrase in English is to take that word or phrase,

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write it in a sentence that's true for you or

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true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Did

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you know You can get more practice using your English

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when you join my podcast Learners study group. There you

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can make new friends, join us for live group lessons

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every week where we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus

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you get access to the PDF transcript and audio download

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for every Happy English podcast in the past and in

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the future, and On top of that, each episode has

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exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking

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and writing checked by me. To learn more, just visit

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Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson eight oh five. Remember,

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learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,

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and I'm here to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy English dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

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Happy English