How to Use COULD in English Grammar [5 Ways to Use Could in REAL English]

Hi, I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English and welcome to your

Confident English Wednesday lesson. This is where you want to be every week if

your goal is to advance your English language skills and communicate with

confidence. This week we're going to look at grammar in real life. We're going to

get very specific on one topic. We'll look at some examples of how it gets used in

real, everyday speaking situations and, of course, as always you have the

opportunity to practice and perfect so that you can use your English with

confidence at work and in your everyday life. This week we're we're looking at

the word could. Could is one of those modal words that you might hear a lot

about. Modals are words like should, would, could, might, but I want to focus just on

one. Just on the word could so that you can really understand how we use it in

everyday speaking situations and use it correctly. In today's video you'll learn

five situations in which you can use the word could just like a native speaker in

your everyday life. And number one is making polite requests. So imagine that

you're at work and you need help with something or you want to ask someone for

something. The way to make it the most polite is to use the word could. For

example: could you send me the contract by the end of the day? Could you send me

the contract by the end of the day? In this example, I could use the word can -

Can you send me the contract by the end of the day but just that small change

from can to could makes it more polite. Another example that I hear a lot

in my classes and in my emails is could you help me? I just don't understand this

grammar topic. Could you help me? I just don't understand this. Or maybe you get a

phone call from a friend who says, could I borrow your car this weekend? Could I

borrow your car this weekend? And finally a very polite but common way of

interrupting someone at work is: I'm sorry could I bother you for a moment? Or

I'm sorry could I interrupt you for a moment? Now the second way that we use

could in our everyday lives is responding to requests. You've already

used it to make a polite request. Let's imagine that your friend calls you and

asks: could you help me move this weekend? I'm moving to a new apartment and I need

some help. Could you help me move this weekend now? It's your job to respond.

Again you have a choice. You could say can: yes I can or i would love to help

you move this weekend. Or you could say: yeah I could help you. I only have time

on Saturday afternoon though. Yeah, I could help you. In responding to a

request, when we use could it shows a little bit of hesitation or lack of

desire for doing it. Maybe you really don't have time or you just don't want

to help. Using could actually shows that you don't really want to do it. Instead

can can show a little bit more enthusiasm. For example, yes of course I

can help you this weekend, it's no problem. So there's just a little change

between making the request and answering the request. Number three making

suggestions. For example maybe someone says to you:

I'm so bored I have nothing to do. But you have a lot of good ideas and you can

suggest those ideas by saying: you could read a book or you could go to a movie.

You could take a walk or you could even take the dog on a walk. All of those are

great suggestions and we're using could to help us make those. Number four: past

abilities. When I was younger I could run a lot faster without getting out of

breath. When I was younger I could run a lot faster without getting out of breath.

Or ten years ago she could speak Spanish really well but she hasn't used it in

years. Ten years ago she could speak Spanish so much better but she hasn't

used it in years. In both of those examples I'm talking about an ability

that I or someone else had in the past but we no longer have that ability. And

finally number five. A real-life situation when we use the word could is

for possibilities. And this is similar to using might but we'll save that for

another day. Let's look at a couple of examples of using could for a possibility.

Don't forget to take an umbrella today it could rain. Or we could even use it

for past possibilities. For example, you could have gone to the store earlier to

avoid all the traffic. You could have gone to the store earlier to avoid all

the rush hour traffic. And with that you have five real-life examples of how we

use could in our everyday lives in English. And now it's your turn to give

it a try. As always you can share with me your own examples in the comments

section just below this video to get feedback and to share with the Confident

English Community. Try practicing some polite requests or share with me some

past abilities that you had. As always, I do read all the comments below and

provide feedback so don't be afraid to take this opportunity to test your

understanding. And then begin using these examples in your everyday life so that

you can communicate with confidence.