Easy sentences with the word could

Maybe you could help me solve a little problem I have.

Может ты мне поможешь с одним мелким дельцем?

He could fill like 50 balloons a day.

Он может наполнять наверно по пятьдесят шариков в день.

I was just thinking that we could have something…

Я просто думал, что у нас все же может быть что-то…

Could it be that he’s new?

Может он новенький?

With such a house how could there be no one?

Как в таком доме может никого не быть?

I didn’t think I could do it.

Я не думал, что смогу.

Then the kids would turn against Frankie, and I could take over the peanut racket.

И когда детвора восстанет против Френки, я смогу захватить орехоторговлю. А-а-а!

«Now I knew I could win the Princess Dinarzade»

«Так я узнал, как смогу завоевать прекрасную Динарзаде»

Maybe I could help this Clara Wood of yours.

Возможно, я смогу помочь этой вашей Кларе Вуд.

I could never leave Jerry.

Я не смогу оставить Джерри.

I was thinking that we could use your role as bridesmaid to really mess her up.

Я подумала, что можно использовать твою роль подружки, чтобы реально ей насолить.

One with nothing in his coat sleeves, the other one shuffling around on those little wooden feet, if you could call them that.

У одного рукава пальто совершенно пусты, другой суетится вокруг на этих деревянных ножках, если их вообще можно назвать ногами.

There was a window with a wire grating on it and through that window you could look out and see a lot of people out there who undestood a whole lot more what you’re going through than these doctors

¬ комнате присутствовало окно с решЄткой из проволоки, через которое можно было рассмотреть много подозрительных людей снаружи, и эти люди понимали, через что тебе придЄтс€ пройти, намного больше, чем персонал клиники.

Of course, I know we could find one, but maybe the people wouldn’t get out.

Конечно, я знаю, где можно его найти, но не уверен, что люди согласяться его покинуть.

You could go crazy staying here.

Можно сойти с ума оставаясь здесь.

So what I’m trying to say is that the remains could have been here long before this town is made.

что возможно останки были тут до основания города.

I could have induced him stay in a minute by offering to double his .. Thirty pieces of silver.

Возможно, он сразу согласился бы, если бы я удвоил его 30 серебренников.

— You probably could get some money out of him.

— Возможно, чтобы получить с него немного денег.

With such eyes, she could’ve been Turkish… or from Alexandria.

С такими глазами она, возможно, была турчанкой или из Александрии.

Could be, perhaps, but it isn’t very likely.

Это возможно, но не очень вероятно.

— Barney, you always could pick ’em. 9:00?

Ты всегда умел их подбирать.

— Wash sure could make ’em up, couldn’t he?

Уош умел рассказывать эти истории, да?

Well, at least he could dance, and he didn’t show me any sugarcane.

Он, хотя бы, умел танцевать, и не тащил меня на сахарные плантации.

I never could handle those fool things.

Никогда не умел курить как следует.

You never could.

Ты никогда не умел…

What could I know about it?

ј мне-то что может быть известно?

Children, if Dale and Jerry are drifting out to sea… don’t you think the best thing we could do is rescue them?

Мальчики, если Дейл и Джерри плывут в море, может быть, лучше помочь им?

Jerry, I admit as one man to another, that economically, I haven’t been of much value to you, but suppose you could put one on credit.

Джерри, могу сказать тебе, как мужчина мужчине, с экономической точки зрения, я был не очень ценным клиентом, но… может быть, ты мне нальёшь в кредит?

— That could stand for Greenway Park.

— Это может быть Гринуэй Парк.

And next he could say that this is his robe.

Может быть, он скажет, что я присвоил и этот халат.

I wanted to die… so I could be with her.

Я хотела умереть… чтобы быть с ней.

But what if it could still be visited? What am I saying?

Тем не менее, этот исчезнувший мир должен быть найден.

I wish I were someone else. Then I could stay here with you forever.

Мне хотелось бы быть кем-то другим, чтобы остаться с тобой навсегда.

I only thought you should wait a little longer so you both could be sure.

Я только советую вам немного подождать. Чтобы быть уверенными.

You see, we could never in our whole lives be any happier than we are now.

Понимаешь, за всю оставшуюся жизнь нам уж не быть Такими счастливыми, как сейчас.

If you work hard, you could be a very good actress

Если будешь стараться, то из тебя получится очень хорошая актриса

You really think I could?

Ты правда думаешь, у меня получится?

Christian, with the help of Pierre and me maybe you could.

Кристиан, с помощью Пьера и меня может быть, у тебя получится.

You could do it if you wanted to.

У вас получится, если вы захотите.

I’m not a coward who wants to avoid unpleasantries, but you could do it better than I.

Я не трус и не боюсь этого, но у тебя лучше получится.

Frankie was up to something— — I could feel it-— And I needed to find out what.

Френки что-то затеял, я это чувствовал, и я должен был выяснить что.

I could feel how it should be, it was practically finished.

Я чувствовал, какой она должна была быть.

I could feel the ground under my feet again. And it looked like easy going from there on in.

Я снова чувствовал землю под ногами, и дальнейшее казалось делом решённым.

Yes, I could feel it.

Да, я это чувствовал.

I could almost hear them listening.

Я даже чувствовала его дыхание.

He died in my arms five minutes ago, before he could finish his message to you, but I’m gonna finish it for him.

ќн умер у мен€ на руках п€ть минут назад, не успев закончить послание к вам, — … но € завершу начатое за него.

He must have been rather disappointed that you left before he could talk to you.

Наверное, он расстроился, не успев побеседовать с тобой.

And before you could count ten, the whole room was ablaze.

И не успели досчитать до десяти, как уже пылала вся комната.

Before he could yell or fight…

Прежде чем он успел крикнуть

We were going to be married on Tuesday, and then we postponed it, so my sister could get there from New Hampshire, remember?

Мы собирались пожениться во вторник, но потом отложили, чтобы моя сестра успела добраться из Нью-Гемпшира, помнишь?

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This lesson includes:

• talking about ability in the present and future.
• talking about general ability in the past and ability on specific occasions in the past.
• the different uses of can, could and be able to
• the difference between could never and never could
• using the verbs manage and succeed for past ability

Ex 1b — Look at the sentences in Ex 1a and decide which words or expressions you can use to express the functions above. There may be more than one answer to each usage.

Note — not able to can be expressed in several ways:

• not able to
• unable to
• no longer able to

1. We use can / can’t (cannot) to speak about ability or possibility in the present.

   She can speak four foreign languages.
   She can’t make it to the wedding.

2. We can also use be able to / not be able to, but usually prefer can

   He’s able to run 100 metres in 10 seconds. (He can run …)
   I’m afraid we are not able to fulfill your request. (We can’t …)
3. But with Perfect tenses we have to use be able to and not can.

   They’ve been able to come to an agreement at last.
   I’ve never been able to understand her.

4. Similarly with other modal verbs (eg: should, might), we can’t use can but have to use be able to instead.

   The candidate should be able to speak fluent English.
   We might not be able to do that.

5. The same is true when we use will for the future.

   He’ll be able to see you tomorrow afternoon.
   She won’t be able to do it until next week.

6. But we use can (or be able to) when we decide now about something in the future.

   I can do it tomorrow afternoon, if you like. (I’ll be able to do it …)
   They can’t do it before next Thursday. (They won’t be able to do it …)

Ex 2b — Look at the sentences above and decide which words or expressions you can use to express the following. There may be more than one answer to each usage:

Note 1 — manage and succeed

When talking about being able to do something on a particular occasion in the past we sometimes use the verbs manage and succeed instead of be able to, especially if there was some difficulty involved.

Ex 2c — Complete the sentences using one small word plus the verb in brackets in the correct form.

Note 2 — Adverbs of frequency

Look at this sentence

When I was young, I was never able to ride a bicycle ‘hands free’, at least not for more than a few seconds.

Are we talking here about a general ability, or an ability on a particular occasion?

Now look at this little story:

There was a particular computer game he used to play when he was a teenager. He always managed to get to Level 2, he was often able to get to Level 3, but only sometimes succeeded in getting to Level 4. However, he never managed to get to Level 5.

Adverbs of frequency describe how often or the number of occasions something happens. The sentence about riding a bicycle looks as though it’s about general ability, but the word never here really means: not once, on no occasion, so can take verb forms appropriate for ability on a specific occasion. So we could equally well say:

… I never managed to ride a bicycle ‘hands free’ …

or

… I never succeeded in riding a bicycle ‘hands free’ …

Note 3 — Restrictive expressions with could

These can be used in a similar way to couldn’t with ability on specific occasions.

Because of the strike, I could only get home last night by walking the whole way.
She could hardly walk, she was so drunk.

Note 4 — could have done

This refers to something that was possible in the past, but didn’t happen. It is perhaps therefore really more about possiblity than ability.

I could have walked, but I decided to take a taxi.
You could have phoned me!

Note 5 — could never and never could — what is the difference?

There are several songs with never could in the title

• Never could toe the mark — Waylon Jennings
• Never could have been worse — Trigun
• Never could believe — The Damned

I have seen suggestions in a couple of forums that could never is about the present / future, and never could is about the past. But it’s not quite that easy. It’s all about context. Look at these sentences, which are indeed about the present / future:

I could never do what you do.
Bungee jumping? I could never do that!

In fact could never in those sentences could be replaced by would never be able to. But now look at these sentences, which are all equally clearly about the past, and try saying them out loud. Which words would you stress?

I could never understand what she saw in him.
I never could understand what she saw in him.
We could never agree about anything.
We never could agree about anything.

The difference here is not one of time but one of emphasis. Look how the stress changes in these two sentences (make out = understand, getting at = trying to say):

I could never make out what she was getting at.
I never could make out what she was getting at.

The first uses normal word order and is almost a neutral statement of fact, whereas the second, by changing the expected word order and stress, really emphasises the fact that I was never able to understand her, and perhaps says something about my attitude. While this structure: never could do something is, I think, only used about the past, there is, however, at least one way we can use never could ( = never be able to) like this for the future:

Of course I don’t hate you. I never could (and I never would).

Summary of the rules for ‘ability in the past’

1. We use could / could’t to speak about a general ability in the past or at a particular period in the past.

   My aunt could speak four foreign languages. (She died a few years ago)
   My wife, who’s Belgian, could speak four foreign languages by the time she was five.
   He couldn’t drive until he was 35.

2. We can also use be able to / not be able to to describe general past ability.

   She was able to speak four foreign languages by the time she was five.
   He wasn’t able to drive until he was 35.

3. But for positive ability on a specific occasion (or occasions) in the past we use be able to and not could.

   We were able to get a last minute deal on a holiday to Egypt.

4. For negative ability on a specific occasion (or occasions), however, we can use couldn’t as well as not able to.

   He couldn’t unlock the door that evening.
   She wasn’t able to think up a suitable excuse for being late.

5. Sometimes we use manage to do or succeed in doing for ability on a particular past occasion, especially if there was some difficulty involved. These can be used in both positive and negative.

   I finally managed to beat him at tennis last week.
   She succeeded in finding a job straight after leaving university.
   He didn’t manage to get his essay finished on time.
   We never succeded in our attempts to catch him out.

6. We tend to use could rather than be able to (depending on context) after certain verbs, especially:
   • Verbs of sensation: see, hear, smell, taste, feel
   • Certain verbs of perception: remember, understand

   I could see someone trying to get into the house next door.
   She could clearly remember locking the door.

   but when it is more about ability than sensation or perception, we have a choice:

   I could / was able to see the door of the house from where I was sitting.
   She could / was able to remember every card that had been played.

everything   remember   dance   make   meet
pick   get   understand   find   open  

Answers to the exercises.