General English Level 1 V 3
UNIT 05 Keeping well TOPIC 02 What happened?
LANGUAGE FOCUS 07 Using 'can'
Geng and Tomas say:
Geng:
Can you move your fingers?
Tomas:
Yeah.
Geng: Show me. Can you open and close your hand?
Tomas: Yes I can , but it hurts.


Geng and Tomas are talking about what Tomas can do. We use can to talk about ability.


Can
I
you
he
she
it
we
they 		speak...?
play...?
do...? 		Yes I
you
he
she
it
we
they 		can .
No I
you
he
she
it
we
they 		can't .

Examples

Questions and short answers
Can you swim? Yes I can .
Can she play the guitar? No she can't .
Can he drive a car? Yes he can .
Can they speak French? No they can't .
Sentences
I can use a computer but I can't use the Internet.
He can't play the guitar but he can play the piano.
She can't get out of bed. She is too sick.
We can't come to your place today. We have to work. We can come tomorrow.
They can speak English but they can't speak French.

Now go to 08 LISTENING I hurt my back.