Question
Updated on
21 Jun 2021
- Persian
- English (US)
-
English (US)
-
French (France)
Question about English (US)
Dear natives, would you explain this sentence, like why we are using “can’t “ here and why we don’t use “couldn’t “
You can’t have paid the gas bill on time, otherwise we would still have gas!
Dear natives, would you explain this sentence, like why we are using “can’t “ here and why we don’t use “couldn’t “
You can’t have paid the gas bill on time, otherwise we would still have gas!
You can’t have paid the gas bill on time, otherwise we would still have gas!
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- English (US)
Interesting question! I’m not sure if this is proper grammar, but I think both are actually correct. Using “can’t” seems slightly more present tense, and using “couldn’t” seems slightly more past tense.
Personally, I’d actually say “You couldn’t have paid the gas bill on time...”
Are you reading somewhere that “couldn’t” is incorrect? I’m wondering because it may not be “proper grammar” but sometimes we don’t use proper grammar in English, and over years and years, people get used to saying things “incorrectly” but it becomes natural and a part of our everyday speech.
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- Persian
- English (US)
@mmcmullen40 oh thank youuu, right
Yeah actually I’m fixing my minor errors in grammar with an application, that’s where I found this example
Yeah actually I’m fixing my minor errors in grammar with an application, that’s where I found this example
- English (US)
@Amirrr_mk Ah, I see. It must be one of those things that is natural for us and we say everyday, but textbook definition says is wrong. You’ll find a lot of that in English! 😭 But that’s why we’re here to help haha
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- Persian
- English (US)
- English (US)
@Amirrr_mk “Couldn’t” sounds more natural to me! But I think you could say either and they would both be correct!
Another thing I was just thinking of, English can be a little different depending on exactly where you are. There’s American English, Canadian English, British English, and Australian English. Most of the time they’re exactly the same, but occasionally you might find words or phrases that people only say in one country, and not another.
I say that because “You can’t have paid the bill” sounds like something someone using British English would say (with their cute British accent). But “You couldn’t have paid the bill” sounds more like something we’d say in American English.
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- Persian
- English (US)
- English (US)
@Amirrr_mk Haha, I’m glad you like it! Things like that make me think English must be hard to learn. I don’t know if I’ve ever thought of it as beautiful before 😅 But I guess any language different from your own sounds beautiful in its own way
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- Persian
- English (US)
@mmcmullen40 yeah it is beautiful but I know Spanish and French too but I never fell in love with anything except English!! That’s my true love in life !!
BTW, can I have any ID of you?
BTW, can I have any ID of you?
- Persian
- English (US)
- English (US)
- Hindi
'can' is used in present situation, whereas we can use 'could' for talking about a past ability
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