be able to

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

1. can, to have the ability to

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

Translations

have ability to

• Albanian: mund (sq)
• American Sign Language: S@Sternumhigh-PalmDown-S@Sternumhigh-PalmDown S@Chesthigh-PalmDown-S@Chesthigh-PalmDown
• Arabic: استطاع (ar) (istaTaa3a)
• Armenian: կարողանալ (hy) (karołanal), ի վիճակի լինել (hy) (i vičaki linel)
• Aromanian: pot (rup)
• Belarusian: магчы (be) (mahčý) impf., змагчы́ (be) (zmahčý) pf.
• Bulgarian: мога (bg) (móga)
• Catalan: poder (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (be able to do sth) 能 (cmn) (néng), 能夠 (cmn), 能够 (cmn) (nénggòu), (be skillful in doing sth) 會 (cmn), 会 (cmn) (huì)

• Dalmatian: potar
• Danish: kunne (da)
• Dutch: kunnen (nl)
• Esperanto: povi (eo)
• Finnish: voida (fi), kyetä (fi), pystyä (fi), osata (fi), saada (fi)
• French: pouvoir (fr), savoir (fr) (for a skill)
• Friulian: podê
• German: können (de), in der Lage sein (de)
• Greek: μπορώ (el) (boró)
• Haitian Creole: ka, kapab, kab
• Hindi: सकना (hi) (saknā)
• Ido: povar (io)
• Interlingua: poter (ia)
• Irish: is féidir le (ga), tar le (ga)
• Italian: potere, sapere (for a skill)
• Japanese: 出来る (ja) (できる, dekiru), (also expressed with the potential form of the verb)
• Jèrriais: pouver
• Korean: ...할 수 있다 (ko) (...hal su itda)

• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: kanîn, karîn, şiyan, tiwanîn

  Sorani: tiwanîn

• Lao: ໄດ້ (lo) (dai), ສາມາດ (lo) (saa-maat)
• Latin: possum (la), scio (la), (more a indirect object) queo (la)
• Latvian: prast (lv), varēt (lv)
• Lojban: kakne (jbo)
• Macedonian: може (mk) (móže)
• Maltese: sata (mt)
• Neapolitan: se firà
• Occitan: pòder (oc), podre (oc)
• Polish: móc, być w stanie
• Portuguese: poder (pt), saber (pt), conseguir (pt)
• Romanian: putea (ro)
• Romansch: pudair (rm), puder (rm), pudeir (rm)
• Russian: мочь (ru) (moč’) impf., смочь (ru) (smoč’) pf., быть в состоянии (ru) (byt’ v sostojánii), уметь (ru) (umét’) (to be skilled enough)
• Sardinian: podere (sc), podi (sc), podiri (sc), pori (sc), porrere (sc), potere (sc)
• Serbo-Croatian: (to be able to) moći, моћи, (to know how to) umjeti/umeti, умјети/умети
• Slovak: môcť (sk)
• Slovene: moči (sl), znati (sl)
• Spanish: poder (for a possibility or capacity), ser capaz de (for a skill), saber (for a skill)
• Swedish: kunna (sv)
• Thai: ได้ (th) (dâai), สามารถ (th) (săa-mâat)
• Turkish: edebilmek
• Ukrainian: могти (uk) (mohtý)
• Urdu: سکنا (ur) (saknā)
• Vietnamese: có thể (vi)
• Volapük: kanön (vo)