会 vs 能 vs 可以: Three Ways to Say 'Can' in Chinese

会 (huì), 能 (néng) and 可以 (kěyǐ) all translate as "can", but they answer different questions. Use 会 for a skill you've learned (我会游泳, wǒ huì yóuyǒng, "I can swim") and for what's likely to happen (明天会下雨, "it'll rain tomorrow"). Use 能 for ability, capacity, or whether circumstances let you do something. Use 可以 for permission: "may I…?", "you can…". 能 and 可以 overlap for possibility and for asking permission, and that's where most of the confusion comes from.

The table below is the rule to apply. After it come each word's uses, the overlaps, the negative and question forms, and the mistakes learners make most. The example sentences are from Mandarin Mosaic's lessons, checked by a native speaker. All three words are early vocabulary: 会 and 能 are HSK 1, and 可以 is HSK 2.

Which One to Use: The Decision Table

Ask yourself why you can (or can't) do the thing. Is it something you learned, something you're physically able to do, something the situation allows, or something someone has allowed?

If you're unsure, a good default is: 会 for skills, 能 for everything about being able to, 可以 for permission. This post goes deep on one trio; our guide to commonly confused Chinese words covers the other HSK 1–2 pairs that trip learners up, such as 想 vs 要 and 知道 vs 认识.

会 (huì): Skills You've Learned, and "Will"

会 means "know how to". It's for anything you had to learn or practise: a language, an instrument, swimming, driving, cooking. If you can say "I learned to…", the word is 会.

With 很 (hěn) or 真 (zhēn) in front, 会 means "good at", not just "able to": 很会做饭 is "cooks really well".

会 also means "will" or "likely to": it predicts what's going to happen. 看起来明天会下雨, in the table above, is a prediction about the weather; nobody has learned anything. This 会 is common with weather, with reassurance (一切都会好的, yíqiè dōu huì hǎo de, "everything will be fine") and with promises (我会帮你, wǒ huì bāng nǐ, "I'll help you"). Its negative, 不会, means "won't" or "isn't going to".

会 vs 能 for Skills: Swimming as the Test Case

Swimming is the classic example because both words fit, with different meanings:

• 我会游泳 (wǒ huì yóuyǒng): "I can swim". I've learned how.
• 我能游一千米 (wǒ néng yóu yìqiān mǐ): "I can swim a kilometre". That's how far I'm able to go.

会 says you have the skill. 能 says how much of it you can do, or whether you can do it right now. Someone who has hurt their foot still 会 run, but they can't today, so the sentence takes 能:

The second sentence isn't asking whether you know how to swim. It's asking whether you're able to get across.

能 (néng): Ability, Capacity and Circumstances

能 is the broadest of the three. It covers being physically able to do something, how much you can do, and whether the situation lets you.

• Ability and capacity. 他能跑得和我一样快, from the table, is about speed, not technique. With 很 or 真 in front, 能 means "can really… a lot": 你真能吃 (nǐ zhēn néng chī), "you can really eat!".
• Circumstances. Illness, time, rules, or the state of things: 我今天生病了，所以不能去上学. The same goes for things rather than people: a bad apple 不能吃, "can't be eaten".
• Requests. 你能…吗？ is the everyday way to ask someone to do something, like "could you…?" in English: 你能帮我一个忙吗？. 能不能 (néng bu néng) does the same job.

The Chinese Grammar Wiki's page on 能 puts the skills rule neatly: used with something you consciously learned, 能 usually means circumstances do or don't allow it.

可以 (kěyǐ): Permission, Suggestions and Possibility

Think of 可以 as "may". Its main job is permission: asking for it, giving it, refusing it.

• Asking permission. 我可以…吗？ is "may I…?" or "can I…?": 我可以用信用卡付款吗？, "can I pay by credit card?".
• Giving permission. To say yes, answer with 可以 on its own:

• Options and suggestions. 你可以… offers someone a choice or an idea, like "you can…" or "you could…": 你可以随便选择一家餐厅, "you can pick any restaurant you like".
• Possibility. 可以 also says something is possible, and here it overlaps with 能 (next section).

可以 is an HSK 2 word, and our HSK 2 vocabulary list has it with the other verbs at that level; 会 and 能 are on the HSK 1 list.

Where They Overlap, and Which Sounds Natural

The rules above are clean; real Chinese is less so. These are the cases where two words both work.

Asking permission: 能 or 可以

Both are fine in the question. Here's 能 asking permission in a clothes shop:

The answers are where they differ. To say yes, say 可以, even if the question used 能; people don't usually answer a permission question with 能 on its own. To say no, both 不能 and 不可以 work. The Chinese Grammar Wiki's comparison of 会, 能 and 可以 sets out these answers.

Ability and possibility: 能 or 可以

For "it's possible" and for ability that doesn't depend on a learned skill, 可以 often does the same job as 能:

There are limits. 可以 doesn't replace 会 for a learned skill, and it doesn't take 很 the way the other two do: 很会说 (hěn huì shuō) is "has a way with words", 很能说 (hěn néng shuō) is "talks a lot", but 很可以说 isn't Chinese.

"Can't": 不能 or 不可以

不能 is the wider word. It says something isn't possible, and it's also used for "you're not allowed to":

不可以 is only about permission: it says plainly that something isn't allowed, so it suits rules and firm instructions, like the warning to the children in the next section's table. 不能 can mean "not allowed", "not possible" or both at once, as in the sentence above. When you mean "it's impossible", use 不能, never 不可以.

One more way to see the three side by side, with short phrases: 会开车 (huì kāichē) is knowing how to drive; 能开车 (néng kāichē) is being able to drive, say because your broken arm has healed; 可以开车 (kěyǐ kāichē) is being allowed to drive, say because you've passed your test.

Negatives and Questions: 不会, 不能, 不可以

All three are negated with 不, never 没. 不 changes to bú before the fourth tone of 会, so it's bú huì, but bù néng and bù kěyǐ.

To ask a question, add 吗 to the end, or use the verb-not-verb form, where the 不 is said lightly:

Note the short form 可不可以, which repeats only 可. It's a friendly way to ask a favour:

• 我今天写了一个中文故事。可不可以帮我看看我的语法对不对？(wǒ jīntiān xiě le yí ge zhōngwén gùshi. kě bu kěyǐ bāng wǒ kànkan wǒ de yǔfǎ duì bu duì?) I wrote a story in Chinese today. Could you check whether my grammar is right?

Answer with the same word: 会 or 不会, 能 or 不能, 可以 or 不可以 (but remember that "yes" to a permission question is 可以). Our post on Chinese sentence structure covers the verb-not-verb question and where 不 goes.

Common Mistakes with 会, 能 and 可以

• Translating every "can" as 能. English uses one word for all three ideas, so learners grab the first one they learned. For a skill you've learned, 会 is the natural choice: 我会说中文, not 我能说中文, unless you mean you're able to right now.
• Using 不会 to refuse permission. 不会 means "don't know how" or "won't". "You can't park here" is 不能 or 不可以.
• Answering "yes" with 能. To a permission question, even one asked with 能, the natural yes is 可以.
• Using 不可以 for "impossible". A bad apple 不能吃; it isn't forbidden, it's inedible.
• Negating with 没. 没会, 没能 and 没可以 aren't how you say "can't". Use 不 for all three. (没能, "didn't manage to", exists, but it's about the past and is a different meaning.)
• Putting 很 before 可以 and a verb. 很会说 and 很能说 work, with their own meanings; 很可以说 doesn't.

How to Practise 会, 能 and 可以

Rules get you started, but the choice becomes automatic only after you've met each word in a lot of sentences. A few habits help:

• Learn them in whole sentences, not as a word pair. A flashcard saying "能 = can" teaches nothing about when; 我今天生病了，所以不能去上学 teaches the circumstances use in one go. That's the idea behind sentence mining.
• Review them on a schedule. Spaced repetition brings each sentence back just before you'd forget it, so the patterns stick.
• Collect minimal pairs. When you find the same verb with two of the three words (会游泳 / 能游一千米, 会开车 / 可以开车), note them together.
• Ask "why can I?" before you speak: learned it (会), able to (能), allowed to (可以).

Mandarin Mosaic teaches words in sentences with one new word each, with spaced repetition, so you meet 会, 能 and 可以 again and again in context. The other HSK 2 patterns are in our Chinese grammar lessons, and the small words that change a sentence's meaning are in our guide to Chinese particles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 会 the Same as "Will"?

Partly. 会 can mean "will" in the sense of "is likely to": 明天会下雨, "it will rain tomorrow". It also means "know how to", which has nothing to do with the future. Chinese has no future tense, so plans are often said with 要 (yào) or just a time word instead.

Can I Use 可以 for Ability?

Sometimes. 可以 can say something is possible or that you're able to do it (我相信你可以做到, "I'm sure you can do it"), overlapping with 能. It can't replace 会 for a learned skill: "I can speak Chinese" is 我会说中文.

What's the Difference Between 不能 and 不可以?

不可以 means "not allowed". 不能 can mean "not allowed" too, but it also means "not able" or "not possible". If something is impossible rather than forbidden, only 不能 works.

Which Word Do I Use to Ask Permission?

可以 is the standard choice: 我可以…吗？. 能 works in the question too (我能试穿一下吗？). Whichever is used, the answer "yes" is 可以.

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