Ability

I)

In the present :

Ali can lift weight

Yacine cant lift weight

Ali is able to lift weight

Yacine isnt able to lift weight

We use can to say that somebody has the capacity to do

something. The difference beween can and to be able to is that
can is generally used in speaking whereas to be able to is more
formal.
Can=
Postive form

Negative form

I can swim

I cannot swim

I am able to swim
swim

I am not able to

She/he/it is able to swim

to swim

she/he/it is not able

You/they/we are able to swim

able to swim

you/they/we are not

N.B after can /to be able to the verb isnt conjugated (stem)
can /to be able
Acitivity one :

II)

In the past

could and was/were be able to

I could play soccor when I was young

a) We use could for genral ability when somebody used to have the
capacity to do something in the past.
- We can replace was/were able to with could.
. Could

. was/were able to

e.g I could swim when I was young.

Postive form

Negative form

I could swim

I could not swim

I was able to swim

swim

I was not able to

She/he/it was able to swim

able to swim
You/they/we were able to swim
able to swim

she/he/it was not

you/they/we were not

b) We use was/were able to when we want to talk about a specific

situation which was very difficult in the past but you were able to
make it.
- We cant use could here.
. Was/were able to
. could

e.g I was swiming in the sea. Suddenly, I saw a big whale :o. I started
swiming so fast and ElhamduliAllah I was able to reach the beach.
Here was/were able to can be replaced with managed to or succeeded to

III)

In the future

we use will be able to + stem

I will be able to teach at university if I obtain my PHd. (doctorat)