Lesson 111👩‍🏫 Basic English with Jennifer - CAN and COULD for Ability

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. Let's study basic

grammar together. You can learn with my students, Flavia and Andreia.

So, you know my story about the mouse. And who caught the mouse? Your husband.

Yeah, he caught it. Um, he could catch it.

Um, I didn't want to. I don't think I could.

Um, I couldn't catch the mouse and he could. Um, so CAN...

COULD. Right? That's what I want to practice now. I know you've seen these

verbs before. Let's practice again. Can and could.

Right? Right. What I can do now. What I could do

yesterday or when I was a little girl. Okay? What can you do? I'm going to ask

some questions, and be careful when you give the answer.

So, for example, my question is going to be,

"Can you ride a bike?" When you make your question...

Can you ride a bike? I can. Yes, I can.

Or no, I can't. Can't. And this is important

because sometimes it's hard to hear. Right?

Even for Americans and even native speakers.

"What? Can or can't?" And sometimes you have to say

"cannot" because it's hard to understand. So, try that. Yes, I can.

Yes, I can. Yes, I can. Yes, I can. No, I can't. No, I can't.

No, I can't. No, I can't. Yeah. You can do a little

"can't" or "can't." Can't. It's like you're cutting it off.

Can't [repeats]

Can...can't. [repeats]

It's very much through the nose.

This nasal sound. And we need the help in here. When you say

"uh," feel that? "Uh" [repeats]

That sound "uh"...you're cutting the sound. That's how we cut off "can't."

I can. I can't. [repeats] Yes, you cut the sound.

So, if you can do "uh"... [repeats]

Say, "Uh-uh."

That's it.

Uh-uh.

That sound is cut off. You're cutting the sound

here, so when you say the negative, you're cutting the sound here. I can't.

Yes, it's very nasal through the nose and we cut the sound off

in our throat there. I can. I can't. Yes, I can. [repeats]

No, I can't. Yeah. Good, good. So, also make it longer

when you say yes. I can. I can. I can't. I can't.

Yeah, it's like nasal. It's cut off. Quick. Quick.

And if people say, "I'm sorry. What did you say?" You say, "I can't. I cannot."

Sometimes you need to say "cannot." All right?

Can you ride a bike? Yes, I can. Oh good for you.

Can you ride a bike? No, I can't. Oh really? You need to teach her.

Yes. Really. Oh, you need to get a bike. Yes. Can you teach her? Yes, I can.

Okay. So, we're going to ask each other questions. You can ask

Flavia. Go ahead. Ask her. Can you swim? Yes, I can.

You can ask me. Can you make soup? Yes, I can. I can also open a can.

Yes, I can. I can make easy soup and I can make

real soup. And I can open a can. Okay. And that's interesting actually.

Soup comes in a can. So "can" can be a verb

and it can be the thing, like a can of soup. Yes.

I can open the can of soup. Get it? It's the same? It's the same word c-a-n.

Can. Can. I can open a can of soup. Or you say, "Help me. I can't open this can."

It's confusing, isn't it? Yeah. I can't I can open the can. I can't open

the can. I can't open the can. Yeah.

Can you help me open the can? So, you have to pay attention because

often one word has two meanings.

Um, can you fall asleep when it's noisy? No, I can't. I need quiet.

I need to quiet. I can't fall asleep with noise. I really can't.

Um, can you text fast?

I can. I can't.

Can you fall asleep quickly? Yes, I can. Really? Yeah. Oh, I can't. I can never...

We say "can never." I can never fall asleep quickly. I take a long time.

Yeah. Okay. So, this is CAN.

CAN is a modal verb. We use "can"

+ the base verb to talk about abilities.

What are you able to do? What can you do? I can play the piano, and I can jump rope.

Notice how we stress the base verb, the main verb.

I can play. I can jump. So, especially in fast speech "can"

will often sound like /kən/. I can do it. I can see.

I can go.

The negative form is "cannot" or the contraction "can't."

Repeat after me. Let's stress the negative form.

I can't go.

I can't hear. I can't tell you.

To talk about past abilities we use "could."

The negative: "could not" And the contraction: "couldn't."

We use these forms to talk about

things we were able to do in the past. Listen.

Okay. So, this is "can." Now think of the past.

Can-could. So, we think of the past. Um, let's think about ourselves as little girls.

Maybe eight, nine. As little girls.

When you were a little girl, could you do laundry?

No. No, I couldn't. I couldn't.

I couldn't do laundry. Or say, "I didn't know how."

I didn't know how either.

I couldn't do laundry, not without help. Right? I couldn't.

Could you climb at three? Yes, I could. Wow.

Could you?

Is climb...?

Ah! Yeah.

Good for you!

Could you make breakfast? I could make cereal:

milk, cereal, breakfast. Yeah. But I couldn't cook, not at 7. I don't even

think at 12 and 13 and 14... I couldn't cook.

I don't remember. You don't remember.

Let's remember how we form questions. We use

verb + subject. Can you go? Can they come? Yes-no questions

use rising intonation. Listen to how my voice

goes up at the end. Can you see?

Can he come?

Can they pay?

Can she dance?

Can you visit me? Can you repeat that?

Can we talk about this?

When you ask questions for information,

use falling intonation. Listen to my voice go down.

Who can help? When can you come?

Why can't he come?

How can you text so fast?

Where can I buy one?

Listen as Flavia, Andreia, and I practice asking some questions.

I'll ask you about Flavia. Can Flavia bake a cake?

Can Flavia...? Can Flavia bake a cake? Yes, she can. She can. Yeah.

You're sure. Yeah. Yeah. Because then we'd have to ask her. Okay.

She doesn't just go to the store and buy a cake? She can bake a cake.

Okay. Um, can Andreia whistle? Whistle?

I don't know. So, you have to ask her. Can you...

Can you whistle? Whistle. Sorry. My handwriting.

Can you whistle? No, I can't. I'll teach you.

Okay. Um, can Flavia dance the samba?

I don't know. You can...uh, can you dance the samba? No, I can't. Really?

Can Andreia dance the samba? I don't know. You have to ask her.

Can you dance the samba? No. Why can't you dance the samba?

Isn't it like your national dance? Yes. We need to go to YouTube and watch some

dance tutorials. We can try. We can try. You too!

Um, can Andreia make a French braid? A French...? Yeah. I took a picture.

Do you see? That's a French braid. Oh! Oh, no.

No. No? She would you like to...to make...

but she can't. Oh! She wants...would like to make...

She would like to make one. She wants to make one, but she can't.

Oh, I'm sorry. Does Flavia know how? Can Flavia make a French braid?

No, she can't. Ah, you guys need to watch some tutorials.

It's weird. I can make a French braid. I can do a French braid on myself.

But I can't do it on other people. It's weird. Like I can do it like this,

but in front of other people I just can't work on somebody else.

I don't know why. Yeah. What's the name? A French braid. French.

French braid. A French braid. Yeah. Okay. We can watch...I love...Yeah, they're pretty.

We can make...um... we can watch some tutorials.

I tried. You tired. Or you will try? I tried. You tried, but I couldn't.

I couldn't. Well, you try again. Yeah. And you can.

But I try, try, try...no.

We will try. We'll try.

Because we all have long hair. We can practice. Okay?

What could you do as a child, but can't do now

as an adult? Anything? I don't think I can climb a tree at my age,

but I could as a child.

That's all for now. Please like and share the video.

As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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