Can I? Could I? May I? | Asking for Permission / Request | Learn English Speaking

356,586 views ใƒป 2021-10-23

Shaw English Online


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Hi, everybody.
0
249
1381
00:01
I'm Esther and in this video I'm going to teach you how to ask someone for permission
1
1630
6910
00:08
Okay so before I teach you that,
2
8540
2843
00:11
let's first talk about what permission means.
3
11383
4007
00:15
Okay so...
4
15390
1603
00:16
When you want to ask someone if it's okay to do something, you're asking for permission.
5
16993
7926
00:24
Okay again, you want to do something, you don't know if it's okay, so you ask someone.
6
24919
6821
00:31
For example, maybe you want to borrow something.
7
31740
4070
00:35
Then you should ask someone.
8
35810
2860
00:38
If you just take it that's stealing, right?
9
38670
3250
00:41
So you have to ask.
10
41920
1530
00:43
Is it okay? Alright?
11
43450
2610
00:46
So there are three ways to ask for permission in English.
12
46060
4230
00:50
The first way is to say, "Can I...?" "Can I...?" Okay.
13
50290
5880
00:56
The second way is "Could I...?" "Could I...?"
14
56170
4260
01:00
And the third way is, "May I...?" "May I...?" Okay.
15
60430
6359
01:06
So 'can I', 'could I', and 'may I' are all good
16
66789
4319
01:11
ways to ask for permission.
17
71108
2918
01:14
But the third one, 'may I', is more polite. Okay.
18
74026
4964
01:18
So if you want to ask somebody who has more power,
19
78990
4376
01:23
maybe your parents, may be your teacher,
20
83366
3521
01:26
then you should say 'may I'.
21
86887
2095
01:28
Maybe even to somebody that you don't know very well,
22
88982
3768
01:32
it's better to say may I because again it's more polite.
23
92750
3983
01:36
So let's look at these examples.
24
96733
2791
01:39
Okay so I've written 'can I', 'could I', and 'may I'
25
99524
4335
01:43
on the board.
26
103859
1350
01:45
Remember, after these three, you have to say a verb.
27
105209
4660
01:49
Okay so let's look at the verbs.
28
109869
2296
01:52
'help' 'see' 'have' 'call' 'borrow' 'go' 'speak' and 'go' again.
29
112165
10942
02:03
Okay so I know I went through that a little bit quickly but
30
123107
3642
02:06
we're going to go through it slowly now.
31
126749
2202
02:08
Okay so here's what we'll do.
32
128951
2519
02:11
I'm going to read and try to switch some around. Okay?
33
131470
3330
02:14
So... "Can I help you?"
34
134800
3551
02:18
"Can I help you?"
35
138351
2539
02:20
let's try that a little bit faster.
36
140890
2447
02:23
"Can I help you?"
37
143337
1960
02:25
"Can I help you?"
38
145297
1863
02:27
Now remember, you can also say 'could I' and 'may I'.
39
147160
4090
02:31
For example, if you're walking through a department store,
40
151250
4365
02:35
and the salesperson comes to you,
41
155615
3175
02:38
they would probably say, "May I help you?" because they want to be polite to the customer.
42
158790
6772
02:45
So again, "May I help you?"
43
165562
3458
02:49
Okay.
44
169020
1417
02:50
"Can I see you again?"
45
170437
3303
02:53
"Can I see you again?"
46
173740
2720
02:56
A little bit faster.
47
176460
1605
02:58
"Can I see you again?"
48
178065
1905
02:59
Maybe you like someone you met them and you like them
49
179970
3710
03:03
and you want to see them again next time,
50
183680
2280
03:05
So you say, "Can I see you again?"
51
185960
3403
03:09
Okay.
52
189363
1476
03:10
"Can I have some water?"
53
190839
3250
03:14
"Can I have some water?"
54
194089
2671
03:16
A little bit faster.
55
196760
1270
03:18
"Can I have some water?"
56
198030
3310
03:21
Okay.
57
201340
591
03:21
Let's try a couple with 'could'.
58
201931
2603
03:24
"Could I call you later?"
59
204534
2994
03:27
"Could I call you later?"
60
207528
2576
03:30
Again, remember, you can use all three, but we're doing 'could'.
61
210104
4376
03:34
"Could I call you later?"
62
214480
2614
03:37
"Could I borrow some money?"
63
217094
2186
03:39
Okay. You usually borrow money from a friend or somebody that you know,
64
219280
5730
03:45
so that's why it's better to say maybe 'can I' or 'could I'.
65
225010
3795
03:48
"Could I borrow some money?"
66
228805
2380
03:51
Okay.
67
231185
1000
03:52
"Could I go?"
68
232185
1205
03:53
"Could I go?"
69
233390
2200
03:55
You want to leave, so you're asking if it's okay.
70
235590
3280
03:58
"Could I go?"
71
238870
1797
04:00
Okay and remember 'may I' is polite okay
72
240667
3483
04:04
you want to say that to someone who's a little bit more important,
73
244150
4181
04:08
maybe someone you don't know.
74
248331
1928
04:10
Again you would use 'may I'.
75
250259
1951
04:12
So "May I speak to mr. Kim?"
76
252210
3254
04:15
Maybe you called his office, okay, so you say,
77
255464
3368
04:18
"May I speak to mr. Kim?"
78
258832
2931
04:21
And the last one -
79
261763
1167
04:22
"May I go to the bathroom?"
80
262930
2600
04:25
This one is maybe if you're asking a teacher.
81
265530
3130
04:28
Right? You're in class and you have to go, you can ask a teacher
82
268660
4050
04:32
"May I go to the bathroom?"
83
272710
2044
04:34
Again, 'can I' 'could' 'can' and 'could' are both okay.
84
274754
5116
04:39
But maybe it's more polite....
85
279870
2280
04:42
If you want to be polite, you should say,
86
282150
2260
04:44
"May I go to the bathroom?"
87
284410
1815
04:46
And I'm sure the teacher will like that better because you're being polite.
88
286225
4005
04:50
Okay. So...
89
290230
1420
04:51
In this video we learned three ways to ask for permission.
90
291650
4315
04:55
Let's go through them one more time.
91
295965
1980
04:57
can I
92
297945
1497
04:59
could I and may I
93
299442
2697
05:02
Okay well I hope I helped and I'll see you guys next time.
94
302139
3592
05:05
Bye.
95
305731
666
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7