rfl81:
I’ve listened to English Lingq Podcast regulary and I keep my interest to learn the language. I know I make mistakes, but I’d like to improve my English sentences. I thought this forum could answer doubts in English, but if it’s not the purpose, my apologizes. I will not ask anymore.
can and could
might and may
My view is as follows. Don’t worry about it. Use whatever word you want. Watch for it in your listening and reading.
“can” refers to the ability to do something. There need not be any conditions. However, you can add conditions. " I can speak French". “My dog can stand on his hind legs if you hold his front ones up.”
“could” is the ability to do something but it is conditional on other factors, including time. “I could do it before, but I cannot do it now”. “I could do if you helped me.”
same as posso and poderia in Portuguese.
“I may” refers to the likelihood that you will do something in the future, not the ability to do something. It refers to the possibility that you will do something. “Might” means the same. Both are in the future, and therefore both are conditional on some other factors. In fact I think they can be used interchangeably.
I may go school tomorrow. It is not sure.
I may go home, if there is no more work. Not certain.
I might go home, if there is no more work. Not certain.
I will go home if there is no more work. That is certain.
Steve,
Thank you.
Note that I edited my post.
I may go home, if there is no more work. Not certain.
I might go home, if there is no more work. Not certain.
If we could rate posts here, Steve might have gotten five stars for the explanation.
If you really want to know about the differences between “can”, “may”, “might”, read this:
May Versus Might: http://bit.ly/pSbCJZ
Can Versus May: http://bit.ly/obPPU7