Asking someone to do something
Can you fix the lamp?
Left column: the order of the concepts, as chips — the slots you fill (who, action, thing, when) and the fixed words the language adds (a modal, a negator, a question marker). Click a slot, here or in the bar above, to choose what goes in it. Right column: the sentence those concepts make, the other orders the language allows, and the other ways to say it — each with what it changes. The rows are the languages switched on at the top of the page.
Try:
| Language | The order of the concepts | The sentence, other orders, other ways to say it |
|---|---|---|
| EnglishEnglish | Can modal A true modal asks by swapping places with the subject — no 'do' needed. Strictly it asks about ability; in practice everyone hears a request. | Can you fix the lamp tomorrow? Other ways to say it Could you fix the lamp tomorrow? polite softer: the past form of can used as a conditional — the standard polite request to a stranger. Would you fix the lamp tomorrow? polite asks about willingness, not ability: 'Would you…' assumes they can, and asks if they will. |
| FrançaisFrench | Est-ce que questionpeux modal A request is a question about ability, as in English. Est-ce que is neutral; inversion is careful; the conditional softens further. | demain Après-demain = the day after tomorrow. Est-ce que vous pouvez réparer la lampe demain ? or: Pouvez-vous réparer la lampe demain ? — careful or written French Other ways to say it Pourriez-vous réparer la lampe demain ? polite “could you” the conditional, inverted: the most polite request French has short of a letter. |
| EspañolSpanish | puede modal A request is a question about ability, as in English. Spanish adds nothing — no helper, no particle — only the ¿ ? and the rise. | mañana Also 'morning' (la mañana): mañana por la mañana = tomorrow morning. Pasado mañana = the day after tomorrow. ¿Puede usted arreglar la lámpara mañana? or: ¿Usted puede arreglar la lámpara mañana? — the statement with a rise Other ways to say it ¿Podría usted arreglar la lámpara mañana? polite ¿podría usted…? — the conditional, 'could you'. The polite request to a stranger; ¿puede…? is fine but plainer. |
Hover a word to see which concept it fills. The verb is always in its dictionary form: every pattern here is built on a modal, which carries the person and the tense, so any verb stays grammatical in every language. Where the modal is an ending (Korean, Japanese, Hindi's 'can'), the stem is computed. What this cannot show is agreement beyond the modal — adjectives, plural objects — which the grammar chapters cover.
For the same idea said at three levels of politeness, see Compare.