be able to

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (UK):

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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) (istaṭāʕa), قَدَرَ (ar) (qadara)

  Egyptian Arabic: قدر (ʔidir)

• Aragonese: poder (an)
• Argobba: ቻል (čālā)
• Armenian: կարողանալ (hy) (karoġanal), 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), vermögen (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

  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 (lv)
• Ligurian: poéi
• Lithuanian: galėti (lt)
• Lombard: podè (lmo)
• Lü: ᦡᦺᧉ (ḋay²)
• Macedonian: може impf (može)
• Malay: boleh
• Maltese: sata
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: мошташ (moštaš)

• Neapolitan: se firà
• Ngazidja Comorian: ushinɗa
• Norman: pouver
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: greie (no), være i stand til, kunne (no), formå (no) (literary, dated), klare (no), makte (no), evne (no)

• 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)
• Venetan: poder
• Vietnamese: có thể (vi), nổi (vi)
• Volapük: kanön (vo)
• Walloon: poleur (wa)
• Welsh: gallu (cy)
• Zhuang: maenz

See also

• Appendix:English modal verbs