be able to

Verb

 * 1) Can, to have the ability to.

Usage notes

 * See 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.

Translations

 * Albanian:
 * American Sign Language: S@Sternumhigh-PalmDown-S@Sternumhigh-PalmDown S@Chesthigh-PalmDown-S@Chesthigh-PalmDown
 * Amharic: መቻል
 * Arabic: ,
 * Egyptian Arabic: قدر
 * Aragonese:
 * Argobba: ቻል
 * Armenian:, ի վիճակի լինել
 * Aromanian: pot
 * Asturian:
 * Belarusian: магчы́, змагчы́; уме́ць, ўмець, суме́ць
 * Bulgarian:
 * Burmese: ,
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, ,
 * Chuukese: tongeni
 * Czech: ,
 * Dalmatian: potar
 * Danish:
 * Dutch:, , in staat zijn te
 * Esperanto:
 * Estonian:
 * Extremaduran: poel, puel
 * Faroese:
 * Finnish:, , , ,
 * French:, for a skill, être capable de
 * Friulian: podê
 * Galician:, ser quen
 * Georgian: შეუძლია
 * German:, ,
 * Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽, 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽
 * Greek:
 * Ancient: δύναμαι
 * Haitian Creole: ka, kapab, kab
 * Hebrew:
 * Hindi:
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Ido:
 * Interlingua: poter
 * Irish: is féidir le, tar le
 * Old Irish: con·icc, ro-
 * Italian: ,
 * Japanese: ,
 * Kabyle: zmer, issin for a skill
 * Korean: 할 수 있다
 * Kurdish:
 * Central Kurdish: tiwanîn
 * Northern Kurdish:, , ,
 * Lao: ໄດ້, ສາມາດ
 * Latin:, , queo
 * Latvian: ,
 * Ligurian: poéi
 * Lithuanian:
 * Lombard:
 * Lü: ᦡᦺᧉ
 * Macedonian: може
 * Malay: boleh
 * Maltese: sata
 * Mari:
 * Eastern Mari: мошташ
 * Neapolitan: se firà
 * Ngazidja Comorian: shinɗa
 * Norman: pouver
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:, være i stand til, , , , ,
 * Occitan: pòder, podre
 * Persian:
 * Plautdietsch: kjennen
 * Polish:, być w stanie,
 * Portuguese:, ,
 * Romanian:
 * Romansch: pudair, puder, pudeir
 * Russian:, , быть в состоя́нии, , to be skilled enough
 * Sardinian: podere, podi, podiri, pori, porrere, potere, pòdere
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: моћи,  умјети / умети
 * Roman: moći,   /
 * Sicilian:
 * Slovak: môcť
 * Slovene:, znati
 * Sorbian:
 * Lower Sorbian: móc
 * Spanish: for a possibility or capacity, ser capaz de for a skill,  for a skill
 * Sranan Tongo: man
 * Swahili: weza
 * Swedish:
 * Tetum: bele
 * Thai:, ,
 * Tocharian B: yāt-
 * Turkish:
 * Ukrainian:, змогти́; вмі́ти, умі́ти, зумі́ти
 * Urdu: سکنا
 * Venetian: poder
 * Vietnamese: ,
 * Volapük:
 * Walloon:
 * Welsh:
 * Zhuang: maenz