xiaokaoy
"Do you speak Chinese?" vs "Can you speak Chinese?" What's the difference between them, if they are both grammatical?
٢٦ نوفمبر ٢٠١٢ ٠٥:٢١
الإجابات · 5
1
In context, they usually mean the same thing. There is a difference that I shall illustrate for you. "CAN you speak Chinese" = Are you ABLE to speak Chinese? Is it something that you are able to do? "DO you speak Chinese" = Do you speak Chinese REGULARLY? [eg. to friends, in work, etc.] Of course, to actually speak Chinese to your friends, you have to be ABLE to speak it. Similarly, to be ABLE to speak Chinese, you generally need to have spoken it before... [But not necessarily....] The two are relatively interchangeable but I'm sure you can see the difference. ----- The rule is true in other sentence structures: "CAN you play golf?" = Are you ABLE to play golf? Is it something you're able to do? "DO you play golf?" = Do you play golf with your friends? Is that something you do on a regular basis? ---- I hope you can see the difference and, moreover, I hope this helps!
٢٦ نوفمبر ٢٠١٢
They are essentially asking the same thing. They're both grammatically correct.
٢٦ نوفمبر ٢٠١٢
لم تجد إجاباتك بعد؟
اكتب اسألتك ودع الناطقين الأصليين باللغات يساعدونك!