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xiaokaoy
"Do you speak Chinese?" vs "Can you speak Chinese?"
What's the difference between them, if they are both grammatical?
26 nov. 2012 05:21
Antwoorden · 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.
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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?
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I hope you can see the difference and, moreover, I hope this helps!
26 november 2012
They are essentially asking the same thing. They're both grammatically correct.
26 november 2012
Heb je je antwoorden nog steeds niet gevonden?
Schrijf je vragen op en laat de moedertaalsprekers je helpen!
xiaokaoy
Taalvaardigheden
Chinees (Mandarijn), Engels
Taal die wordt geleerd
Engels
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