Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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会 & 能 & 可以 — Three Kinds of Can
会 & 能 & 可以 — 三个 can，三种理由
会 is a skill you learned, 能 is what circumstances allow, 可以 is permission — English says can for all three; Chinese won't.
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Memory hook
会 — learned it once, yours forever
Skills, permissions, and one proof sentence
Tap any line. Ask each time: was this learned, or merely allowed?
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Memory hook
能 and 可以 — twins, with fine print
Which can is it?这是哪一个 can？
No pressure — just making it stick.
我____开车，但是我喝酒了，不能开车。
Wǒ ____ kāi chē, dànshì wǒ hē jiǔ le, bù néng kāi chē.
I know how to drive, but I've been drinking — I can't drive.
我会开车，但是我喝酒了，不____开车。
Wǒ huì kāi chē, dànshì wǒ hē jiǔ le, bù ____ kāi chē.
I know how to drive, but I've been drinking — I can't drive.
我____坐这里吗？
Wǒ ____ zuò zhèlǐ ma?
May I sit here?
——我可以用一下你的电脑吗？——____。
— Wǒ kěyǐ yòng yíxià nǐ de diànnǎo ma? — ____.
“May I use your computer for a moment?” — “Sure.”
Which reply fits?
As a skill — can he swim?
Your turn — say it
能少放一点辣吗？
Could you make it less spicy?
Your turn — say it
我只会说一点点中文。
I only speak a tiny bit of Chinese.
This lesson's characters
Two characters, two surprises: a pot with a lid, and a bear.
can (a learned skill); to meet
会two ideas joined
The old form 會 drew a lid settling onto a pot — two things made to fit together. That fit is still its first job: 开会, a meeting, people fitting into one room. 'Know how' grew out of the same picture — a skill is what has finally come together in you: hands, timing, the word for coffee, all clicking shut like a lid. The simplified shape reads 人 over 云, a person on a cloud — which is fair; that is exactly how it feels the day the skill clicks.
can (conditions allow); ability
象drawn from life
能 is a bear. In bronze script you can still make it out: big head, heavy body, claws down the right side. What a bear can do it simply can — so the bear's name came to mean ability itself, and the animal had to get a new character: 熊, which is 能 with four small flames underneath (the dictionaries file it under fire; the bear declined to comment). Every 我能 is, etymologically, a small claim of bear-power.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Take stock out loud: three 我会……, one 我不太会……. Instant noodles count as 做饭 if you say it with a straight face.
- Your next request, pick the polite door: 可以……吗？ — and remember only 可以 may answer alone. The blunt no is 不行.
- English hides three meanings inside can; you can hear them apart now. Learned it → 会. World permits → 能 / 可以. When unsure, recite the proof: 我会游泳，但是今天不能游泳。