What is the furture tense of can?

Answer 1

'Can' is either

1. a modal auxiliary verb, meaning ability
2. or the verb 'to can', which means to put food or drink into a can in a factory or by using a canning machine.

As a verb, it is a regular verb, so its past, present, and future forms are constructed in the same way as any other regular verb. e.g.

1. That factory is going to can six million gallons of beer next year.
2. or, perahps more realistically, "A brewery spokesman says they expect to can more than five million gallons of their new lager over the next twelve months."

MODAL AUXILIARY VERB

'Can' as a modal auxiliary verb, has special uses.

[The other main modal verbs are: could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, would]

(Note: 'could' is a distinct modal verb. In some situations it is the equivalent of the past of 'can'.)

MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS are always followed by a main verb and they cannot be used as the main verb.

They do not have infinitives. Nor do they have participles.I can to swim.)

'Can' is used is different ways:

(a) I can ride a bike. (ability)

(b) Can you help me with my homework?" (request)

(c) Can I help you? (offer)

(d) I can see someone on the roof. ('present progressive' sense)

Notice its use as a modal auxiliary verb with the verb 'to hold':-

• "I can hold my breath for three minutes."

(Compare with "I hold my breath for three minutes." !)

FUTURE

In the English language there are many ways to talk about the future.

A common way is by adding the verb 'to be' + 'going to' to the verb.

Consider some examples of past/present/future forms, using the verb 'to write':

1. She wrote a book. (past)
2. She writes books. She is writing a book. (present)
3. She is / going to / write a book. (future)

If we intruduce 'ability' into the situation, we could use 'can'

• She can write books. (present ability)

But if she used to write books in the past, and no longer able to do so, we might say

• Many years ago, before she became so terribly ill, she could write books. (past ability)

But if we want to put the whole situation into thefuture, we must use a an appropriate future form, perhaps with a different modal verb.

1. If she gets better, I'm sure she could writebooks again, if she wanted to.
2. She is going to write books again when she gets out of hospital.
3. When she gets home she can write books in the peace and comfort of her own familiar surroundings.

In the last example, (number 3) you will notice that we have used 'can write'.

Although 'can write' is present tense, the context shows that it applies to the future.

This is another example of a future form. It is called 'the present for the future'.

Other examples of 'present', and 'present for the future':

1. Question: Where are you going? Answer: I am going to the beach. (present tense)

2. Question: Are you going to the beach? Answer: No. I am going to the beach tomorrow. ('present' for the future)

SUMMARY

The word 'can' is a modal auxiliary verb. It is always used in conjunction with a 'main' verb. Like all modal auxiliary verbs it has no past participle, and, like all verbs, it has no 'future tense' as such.

If we wish to speak of 'future ability', this can be done in several ways. One way might be to use the adjective 'able' with a suitable future form of the main verb.

For example, convert "I get home from school at 4 o'clock" to a future form: ('to get' is the verb):

One possible way to do this is:

• "I will get home at 4 o'clock." (the addition of 'will' makes the meaning future)

Now, adding 'to be' + 'able' to the sentence, we get:

• "If I get that new bike, I will be able to get home well before 4 o'clock."

In this particular case we can substitute 'can' for 'able':

• "If I get that new bike, I can get home well before 4 o'clock."

But the simple addition of 'can' does not, by itself, place the event in the future.

If we say, 'With that new bike I can get home well before 4 o'clock." we are using the present tense with no future sense being implied in the sentence. 'I get home' is the present simple tense and 'I can get home ...' is a simple statement of ability, without any reference to time.

For more information, see Related links below.

Answer 2

The future tense of "can" is "will be able to." For example, "I will be able to attend the meeting tomorrow."