Not being able to
I can't fix the lamp today.
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 modalnot not The one modal whose 'not' is written joined on: cannot. A true modal needs no 'do' to negate it — the not goes straight after. | I cannot fix the lamp tomorrow. Other ways to say it I can't fix the lamp tomorrow. neutral spoken, and almost all writing: can't. |
| FrançaisFrench | ne notpeux modalpas not ne … pas round pouvoir. In careful writing pouvoir alone can drop the pas: je ne peux réparer — literary, never spoken. | demain Après-demain = the day after tomorrow. Je ne peux pas réparer la lampe demain. or: Je peux pas réparer la lampe demain. — in speech |
| EspañolSpanish | no notpuedo modal no before the modal: no puedo. The infinitive after it never changes. | mañana Also 'morning' (la mañana): mañana por la mañana = tomorrow morning. Pasado mañana = the day after tomorrow. No puedo arreglar la lámpara mañana. |
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.