Comparing "hui," "neng," "keyi"

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This is one of the trickiest comparisons, as 会 (huì), 能 (néng), and 可以 (kěyǐ) are often translated as "can." Sometimes they are explained as: 会 means "know how to", 能 means "to be able to", and 可以 means "to have permission to." Actually, they overlap a little bit. To visualize the differences and similarities please refer to Chinese Modal Verb Venn Diagram.

Basic Meanings

会 can mean "know how to" and can express an action that you had to learn or be trained in to do.

能 means "to be able to" and expresses having a certain ability or having obtained a certain requirement. It can also indicate that circumstances make an action not possible, or that an action is not allowed.

可以 means "to have permission to" and expresses having another person's permission. It can be thought of in the context of "allowed or not allowed".

Expressing Ability

Both 会 and 能 can be used to express ability in something.

Structure

会/能 + Verb

Examples

  • 他 会 修 电脑。 He knows how to fix computers.
  • 我 会 跳舞。 I know how to dance.
  • 我 学 了 两 年 才 会 说 一点 汉语。 I studied for two years before I knew how to speak a little Chinese.


  • 你 真的 能 吃 三 碗 米饭 吗？ Are you really able to eat three bowls of rice?
  • 你 能 记 住 所有 国家 的 名字 吗？ Are you able to remember the names of all countries?
  • 三 个 月 的 小 孩子 不 能 走路。 Three month old children are unable to walk.


Expressing Permission

可以 is used to ask for or give permission. However, 能 can also be used to replace 可以 interchangeably.

Structure

可以/能 + Verb

Examples

  • 我 可以/能 进来 吗？ Am I allowed to enter?
  • 你 可以/能 帮 我 一下 吗？ Could you help me a bit?
  • 不 可以/能 带 危险 物品 上车。 You're not allowed to bring dangerous things in the car.


Talking about the Future

会 can also be used to mean something is going to happen. It express something in the future will happen and is often used to express trends or possibilities.

Structure

会 + Verb

Examples

  • 明天 你 会 来 吗？ Will you come tomorrow?
  • 你 太 过分 了，没 有 人 会 这么 做。 You're too excessive, no one will do it like this.
  • 一会儿 会 下雨 吗？ Will it rain in a minute?

Adding 很 to create emphasis

By placing the character 很 (hěn) before 会 or 能 it adds emphasis to the level of ability on the action present in the sentence. 很会 means 'to be good at" and expresses being very skillful at something, or doing something very well. It can be translated as "really can", as in "you can really speak Chinese!", in other words, "you are good at speaking Chinese." When 很 is placed in front of 能 the meaning takes on a amazed/surprised tone on the action. It's like the English equivalent of saying " Wow, you really can sleep!"

Structure

很会/很能 + Verb

Examples

  • 这 个 女 孩子 很 会 唱歌。 This girl can really sing.
  • 我 的 妈妈 很 会 做 饭。 My mother really knows how to cook.
  • 他 很 会 骗 人。 He can really deceive people.
  • 你 很 能 吃 吗！ The subject can eat a lot. Wow, you really can eat!
  • 你 很 能 睡。 The subject can sleep a lot, for many hours. You can really sleep.
<span class="expl" The subject can sleep a lot, for many hours.

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Examples of similar expressions, but with different meanings

  • 我 现在 能 跳舞 了，我 的 脚 伤 好 了。 I am able to dance now, my foot is better. (The condition changed)
  • 我 现在 会 跳舞 了，我 学 了 两 个 月。 I know how to dance now, I studied for two months. (It's a learned skill)
  • 我 现在 可以 跳舞 了，我 爸爸 同意 了。 I'm allowed to dance now, my dad agreed. (The dad gave permission)
  • 我 们 学 了 半 年 中文，现在 我会说 一 点 中 文。 We have learned half a year of Chinese, now I know how to speak a little bit of Chinese (The speaker now knows a new language)
  • 你 能 用 中文 演讲 吗？ Can you use Chinese to make a speech? (The speaker is asking if that person has the ability to)
  • 我 们 已 经 说 了 两 个 小 时 英文，现在 可 以 说 中文 吗？ We have already spoken two hours of English, can we speak Chinese now? (The speaker is asking for permission)


  • 我 会 做 中国 菜。 I know how to make Chinese food.
  • 你 能 吃 辣 的 中国 菜 吗？Can you eat (do you have the ability to) eat spicy Chinese food?
  • 我 们 可以 去 吃中国 菜 吗？Can we go eat Chinese food? (Asking for permission)

Similarities

会， 能， 可以 share a few essential rules. The first common rule shared by these three is that none of them can be followed by an aspectual particle.

  • 他会做饭。
    • He knows how to eat.
  • 他会过做饭。

Secondly, 会, 能, and 可以 have to come before any prepositional phrases or descriptive adverbial modifiers in the sentence.

  • 你可以把课本再看一次，看完以后再来考试。
    • You can read over the textbook again, when you're done come back to take the test.
  • 你把课本可以再看一次， 看完以后再来考试。
  • 他们会努力地读一读。
    • They will seriously read it over.
  • 他们努力地会读一读。

Example dialog

  • A: 我 可以 和 他们 一起 踢 足球 吗？ Can I play soccer with them? (Am I allowed?)
  • B: 你 的 腿 还 没 好，现在 你 不 能 踢。 Your foot still isn't better. You can't go right now. (His rule prohibits it)
  • A: 它 会 好 吗？ Will it get better? (会 indicates the future)
  • B: 嗯，你 放 心 吧，很 快 就 会 好 的。 Yes, don't worry, it will get better soon.

For a good visualization on how these three overlap, check out the Chinese Modal Verb Venn Diagram.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Dictionaries

Websites


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