Hvad er det?
Can, can’t, could og couldn’t er modalverber.
De bruges til at tale om:
- nutidig evne
- fortidig evne
- tilladelse
- anmodninger
- mulighed
Can er den positive form.
- I can swim.
Can’t er den korte form af cannot.
- I can’t drive.
Could bruges ofte til fortidig evne eller høflige anmodninger.
- She could read when she was four.
- Could you help me?
Couldn’t er den korte form af could not.
- We couldn’t find the address.
Hvornår bruges det?
Brug can til nutidig evne.
- He can speak English.
- I can cook.
Brug can’t, når nogen ikke er i stand til at gøre noget.
- She can’t swim.
- We can’t come today.
Brug can til at spørge om eller give tilladelse.
- Can I use your phone?
- You can leave early.
Brug could til generel evne i fortiden.
- I could run fast when I was younger.
- They could speak French as children.
Brug couldn’t til manglende evne eller en mislykket situation i fortiden.
- He couldn’t read the sign.
- We couldn’t open the door.
Brug can eller could til at fremsætte anmodninger.
- Can you close the window?
- Could you close the window?
Could er normalt mere høfligt end can i anmodninger.
Struktur
Brug grundformen af verbet efter can, can’t, could og couldn’t.
| Form | Struktur | Eksempel |
|---|---|---|
| Nutid positiv | subjekt + can + grundform | She can drive. |
| Nutid negativ | subjekt + can’t + grundform | She can’t drive. |
| Fortid positiv | subjekt + could + grundform | She could drive at eighteen. |
| Fortid negativ | subjekt + couldn’t + grundform | She couldn’t drive last year. |
Formen er den samme for alle subjekter.
- I can swim.
- He can swim.
- They can swim.
Tilføj ikke -s efter he, she eller it.
Spørgsmål
Brug:
Can/Could + subjekt + grundform?
| Spørgsmålstype | Eksempel |
|---|---|
| Nutidig evne | Can you swim? |
| Tilladelse | Can I sit here? |
| Anmodning | Can you help me? |
| Høflig anmodning | Could you help me? |
| Fortidig evne | Could she read at five? |
Korte svar
- Can you drive? — Yes, I can.
- Can he come? — No, he can’t.
- Could they swim? — Yes, they could.
- Could she open it? — No, she couldn’t.
Eksempler
- I can speak a little Spanish.
- She can’t come to work today.
- Can you help me with this box?
- Can I open the window?
- You can use my computer.
- He could swim when he was five.
- We couldn’t find a taxi last night.
- Could you speak more slowly, please?
- They could not hear the announcement.
- My brother can cook very well.
Undtagelser
Brug could til generel fortidig evne.
- She could play the piano when she was young.
For en specifik succesfuld handling i fortiden er was able to ofte mere naturligt.
- We were able to fix the problem yesterday.
Men couldn’t er naturligt for en specifik mislykket handling.
- We couldn’t fix the problem yesterday.
Cannot skrives som ét ord.
- Korrekt: cannot
- Forkert: can not
Formen can not er kun mulig, når not tilhører en anden frase, men denne brug er ualmindelig.
Almindelige fejl
-
Forkert: She cans swim. Korrekt: She can swim. Forklaring: Tilføj ikke -s til modalverber.
-
Forkert: I can to drive. Korrekt: I can drive. Forklaring: Brug grundformen uden to efter can.
-
Forkert: He could speaks English. Korrekt: He could speak English. Forklaring: Brug grundformen efter could.
-
Forkert: Do you can help me? Korrekt: Can you help me? Forklaring: Brug ikke do i spørgsmål med can.
-
Forkert: I don’t can swim. Korrekt: I can’t swim. Forklaring: Brug can’t, ikke don’t can.
-
Forkert: She could to read at four. Korrekt: She could read at four. Forklaring: Brug ikke to efter could.
-
Forkert: Can you helped me? Korrekt: Can you help me? Forklaring: Brug grundformen af verbet efter can.
-
Forkert: I couldn’t found my keys. Korrekt: I couldn’t find my keys. Forklaring: Brug grundformen efter couldn’t.