Verbes modaux: could

Watch the video here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkfIjEahhMI&t=4s

Hi everybody,

Today, we are going to take a look at when to use ‘could’ and 'couldn't'.

So we use could and couldn't,

- for ability in the past

- for permission

- for requests

- for offers

- for possibility.

So yeah, we use it in a lot of different cases.

Could or couldn’t - General Ability

Okay, let's start with could and couldn't - for general ability.

Now, what do I mean by general ability?

Well I mean, it's something that you have learnt one time and that you are able to do again and again.

For example,

- Swimming

- Riding a bike

- Learning to read

- Learning a language

For example,

- I could swim when I was five

- I couldn't speak English until I took English classes

- My dad couldn't play guitar

- I could ride a bike when I was 10.

So notice, these are all general abilities in the past.

We can use, couldn't - for specific abilities in the past

Note that,

We can't use could - for specific abilities in the past

Let me give you an example,

You can say,

- I couldn't find my keys

So, that's a specific example. It's not something like learning a language

Or

- I couldn't call you yesterday because I was in a meeting.

However, you can't say for example,

- Yesterday I could open the window

No! you would have to use the able to structure.

- I was able to open the window yesterday

Or,

In the negative,

- I couldn't open the window yesterday

But we can't use,

- I could open the window yesterday

So, that's the difference,

We cannot use could - for specific abilities in the past.

Could+have+past participle - for abilities

We use the could+have+past participle for abilities that we had in the past but didn't use. For example,

- I could have opened the window but I didn't even try

- I could have learnt English if I had tried

- I could have been a great guitar player if only I had taken lessons

Could - requests/permissions

So, could is also used for requests.

For example,

- Could you help me with these bags?

- Could you turn off the light, please?

So, it's like a polite way of asking a request and it's more polite than can.

Could - for offers

We also use could as a way of expressing an offer to help someone.

For example,

we could say,

- Could I help you with your bags?

or

- Could I pour you some water?

It's more polite again than ‘can’.

Could - possibility

We also use could for possibility.

But, it's a little more uncertain than ‘can’

For example,

- We can go to Spain tomorrow.

or

- We could go to Spain tomorrow.

It's definitely a possibility but the could means it's a little more uncertain

Another example is,

- We can win - like it's rather positive, right!

Rather than saying

- We could win - it's a little bit more uncertain.

We cannot use could for impossibility.

Let's take the previous example,

- We can win

Let's make that a negative,

- We can't win

There's no way we can win, - We can't win

We cannot say,

- We couldn't win

We couldn't win - is more talking about the ability in the past

Okay!

So, it's not used for an impossibility

We sometimes say in English,

- It can't be true

We cannot say,

- It couldn't be true - No, we don't say that.

So, be careful to never use could for impossibility or couldn't for impossibility.

So, I hope that helps you with the use of could and couldn't and if you want to comment in the description below and use sentences with could and couldn't.

I will correct them and that way you get some practice and to make sure that you can use this structure properly.

Thanks, see you again:)

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