be able to

be able to

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

be able to (third-person singular simple present is able to, present participle being able to, simple past was able to, past participle been able to)

1. Can, to have the ability to.

   Synonym: can

   Antonyms: be unable to, cannot, can't

Usage notes

• See be for the full inflection of be.
• To be able to may be used whenever can (the modal verb) is used; it is always used in tenses where can, which is defective, has no corresponding form. For example, "He said I would be able to go" is the same as "He said I could go", and "You will be able to watch" replaces the non-existent *You will can watch.
• To be able to can be used instead of could to avoid ambiguity between would be able to and was/were able to. For example, "I know I could win" can mean either "I know I was able to win" or "I know I would be able to win", whereas the forms using to be able to avoid this ambiguity.

Hyponyms

• (have ability to): know how to

Derived terms

• be able to count on one's fingers
• not be able to get a word in edgeways
• not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

 

Translations

have ability to

Albanian: mund (sq) American Sign Language: S@Sternumhigh-PalmDown-S@Sternumhigh-PalmDown S@Chesthigh-PalmDown-S@Chesthigh-PalmDown Amharic: መቻል (mäčal) Arabic: اِسْتَطَاعَ‎ (ar) (istaṭāʿa), قَدَرَ‎ (ar) (qadara) Egyptian Arabic: قدر‎ (ʾidir) Aragonese: poder (an) Argobba: ቻል (čālā) Armenian: կարողանալ (hy) (karołanal), ի վիճակի լինել (i vičaki linel) Aromanian: pot Asturian: poder (ast) Belarusian: магчы́ impf (mahčý), змагчы́ pf (zmahčý); (know how to) уме́ць impf (umjécʹ), ўмець impf (ŭmjecʹ), суме́ць pf (sumjécʹ) Bulgarian: мо́га (bg) impf (móga) Burmese: နိုင် (my) (nuing), တတ် (my) (tat) Catalan: poder (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: (be able to do sth) 能 (zh) (néng), 能夠／能够 (zh) (nénggòu), (be skillful in doing sth) 會／会 (zh) (huì) Chuukese: tongeni Czech: moci (cs) impf, umět (cs) impf (to know how to) Dalmatian: potar Danish: kunne (da) Dutch: kunnen (nl), vermogen (nl), in staat zijn te Esperanto: povi (eo) Estonian: saama (et) Extremaduran: poel, puel Faroese: kunna (fo) Finnish: voida (fi), kyetä (fi), pystyä (fi), osata (fi), saada (fi) French: pouvoir (fr), savoir (fr) (for a skill), être capable de Friulian: podê Galician: poder (gl), ser quen Georgian: შეუძლია (šeuʒlia) German: können (de), in der Lage sein (de) Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (magan), 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (kunnan) Greek: μπορώ (el) (boró) Ancient: δύναμαι (dúnamai) Haitian Creole: ka, kapab, kab Hebrew: יָכוֹל‎ (he) m (yakhól) Hindi: सकना (hi) (saknā) Hungarian: tud (hu), képes (hu) Ido: povar (io) Interlingua: poter Irish: is féidir le, tar le Old Irish: con·icc, ro- Italian: potere (it), sapere (it) Japanese: 出来る (ja) (できる, dekiru), (also expressed with the potential form of the verb) Kabyle: zmer, issin (for a skill) Korean: ...할 수 있다 (...hal su itda) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: tiwanîn‎ (ku) (tiwanîn) Northern Kurdish: kanîn (ku), karîn (ku), şiyan (ku), tiwanîn (ku) Lao: ໄດ້ (dai), ສາມາດ (sā māt) Latin: possum (la), scio (la), (more a indirect object) queo Latvian: prast (lv), varēt Ligurian: poéi Lithuanian: galėti (lt) Lombard: podè (lmo) Lü: ᦡᦺᧉ (ḋay²) Macedonian: може impf (može) Malay: boleh Maltese: sata Neapolitan: se firà Ngazidja Comorian: ushinɗa Norman: pouver Norwegian: kunne (no) Bokmål: greie (no), være i stand til Occitan: pòder, podre Persian: توانستن‎ (fa) (tavânestan) Plautdietsch: kjennen Polish: móc (pl) impf, być w stanie impf, umieć (pl) impf (to know how to) Portuguese: poder (pt), saber (pt), conseguir (pt) Romanian: putea (ro) Romansch: pudair, puder, pudeir Russian: мочь (ru) impf (močʹ), смочь (ru) pf (smočʹ), быть в состоя́нии (bytʹ v sostojánii), уме́ть (ru) (umétʹ), суме́ть (ru) pf (sumétʹ) (to be skilled enough) Sardinian: podere, podi, podiri, pori, porrere, potere, pòdere Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: (to be able to) моћи impf, (to know how to) умјети impf / умети impf Roman: (to be able to) moći impf, (to know how to) umjeti (sh) impf / umeti (sh) impf Sicilian: putiri (scn) Slovak: môcť impf Slovene: moči (sl) impf, znati impf Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: móc impf Spanish: poder (es) (for a possibility or capacity), ser capaz de (for a skill), saber (es) (for a skill) Sranan Tongo: man Swahili: kuweza Swedish: kunna (sv) Tetum: bele Thai: ได้ (th) (dâai), สามารถ (th) (sǎa-mâat), เป็น (th) (bpen) Tocharian B: yāt- Turkish: -ebilmek (tr) Ukrainian: могти́ (uk) impf (mohtý), змогти́ pf (zmohtý); (know how to) вмі́ти impf (vmíty), умі́ти impf (umíty), зумі́ти pf (zumíty) Urdu: سکنا‎ (saknā) Venetian: poder Vietnamese: có thể (vi), nổi (vi) Volapük: kanön (vo) Walloon: poleur (wa) Welsh: gallu (cy) Zhuang: maenz

See also

• Appendix:English modal verbs