Be able to A Complete Explanation | Be able to Usage

Be able to Usage

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Be able to A Complete Explanation

Be able to is used to express the ability to do something. (He was able to dance when he was five.)

It is sometimes possible to use the modal verb Can, but only in the present tense (I can speak Spanish), in the past tense (He was able to dance when he was five) and in the conditional tense (I could pass the exam if I worked hard).

Present tense: I am able, we are able you are able, he is able, she is able

Past tense: I was able, we were able, you were able, he was able, they were able, she was able

Future tense: I will be able, he will be able, she will be able, they will be able

Present perfect: I have been able, he has been able, they have been able

Past perfect: I had been able, he had been able, they had been able

Future perfect: I will have been able, she will have been able, they will have been able

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Questions and negative forms are made in the following way.

Questions:

For Example

Am I able?

Are you able?

Were you able?

Has she been able?

Will he be able?

Negative questions:

For Example

Are you not able?

Has she not been able?

Will he not be able?

Negative statements:

For Example

I am not able,

You were not able,

We have not been able

Present ability

It is possible to use “be able to” if we talk about a general ability in the present, but can is more common.

For Example

Radha can sing very well.

Radja is able to sing very well.

Past ability

We can use “was/were able to” or could to talk about a general ability in the past.

For Example

Rosy could speak Spanish and French.

Rosy was able to speak Spanis and French.

But Could is not used to talk about a specific event (one particular action). We must use be able to.

For Example

Rosy was able to play chess.

We couldn't help in this matter.

You weren't able to help in this matter.

I could hear the noise.

I was able to learn.

She could do it.

She was able to do it.

Future ability

We use will be able to to talk about a future ability whereas Can is not used for future actions.

For Example

She will be able to finish the work.

Conditional ability

If we speculate about an ability in the present or future, we can use could or would be able to.

For Example

I could live in India.

I would be able to live in India.

Could you complete tomorrow?

Would you be able to complete tomorrow?

If we speculate about an ability in the past, we usually use could + perfect infinitive (could have gone), even if would have been able to is also possible.

If Rosy hadn't been injured, she could have played cricket.

If Rosy hadn't been injured, she would have been able to play cricket.

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