# استطاع / أمكن، يمكن  (can, to be able to)



## Nobutaka

Is there any difference in useage between يمكن and يستطيع ?

And would there also be differences according to the regions or people, or some levels or circumstances - like in عامية or فصحى ??


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## Mushkalji

Yumkin was always more common in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in everyday usage than tastateah when I was living there. In fact, I was the only person who used the latter term.

(Sorry, no Arabic keyboard here).


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## cherine

أستطيع = I can 
يمكن = it is possible

The main difference is that the verb يستطيع is variable with pronouns: أستطيع - تستطيع - نستطيع .... but we don't say: أُمكِن - تمكن ... We say أتمكن - يتمكن - نتمكن .

In usage, both أستطيع and أتمكن are used, in الفصحى .

In colloquial Arabic of Egypt, we don't use أستطيع but we say:
ممكن = it's possible
أقدر (a2Dar) = I can.


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## clevermizo

Mushkalji said:


> Yumkin was always more common in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in everyday usage than tastateah when I was living there. In fact, I was the only person who used the latter term.
> 
> (Sorry, no Arabic keyboard here).



It depends on what you mean. You will here _yumkin_ or _yumken_ a lot as it means "it is possible that..." 

It's possible استطاع can be used colloquially in those places too, but probably only in more formal situations. The most common verb in Jordan to say "able to/can" is قدر . In Syria/Lebanon there is also the expression في+personal pronouns: فيك etc. in addition to the verb 2ider. So you can say: ma fiik ta3mel shi (You can't do anything) or ma bti2der ta3mel shi (I think in the south (Jordan/Palestine) bti2der is pronounced bti2dar). 

As a note of curiosity in usage, so far in my readings in ألف ليلة وليلة I have not come across the verb استطاع once (but I have been skipping around a little) - however I have come across the verb قدر many times.


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## Mushkalji

All very interesting. Thanks!


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## Nobutaka

Thank you all!

I think I should still leave this thread open to look over more comments. Very interesting


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## Yeshua

I think the first word moreover denotes, that you have the strength to do something.
And the second one, more to that you have the possibility to do something.
But i guess they intertwine


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## Sidjanga

Hi all,

I've heard that أستطيع أن basically means "I am able to/capable of", i.e. that _I know how_ to do whatever the verb following استطاع أن expresses; in other words, I know the technique or am proficient in the activity.

As for يمكنني أن, I've been told it does _not _normally mean that I know how to do whataver the following verb expresses, but rather _that the current situation actually allows me _to carry out that activity.

Accordingly, the following phrases would have these meanings:

أستطيع أن أسبح = "I can swim" in the sense that "I have learnt the technique and have had enough practice so as to feel  comfortable carrying it out".
يمكنني أن أسبح = "I am able to swim (here/now)", "I have the opportunity to swim", "the situation allows me to actually     do so", for example because there's a suitable lake here.

However, if this is correct and I understand the difference the way it is meant, sentences like
للأسف لا نستطيع أن نلتقي اليوم 
hardly seem to make any sense, given that لا نستطيع is obviously meant to express that the _situation somehow doesn't allow us_ to meet up today - and not that we've suddenly 'forgotten' what you have to do to meet up with someone, or something. 

So my question is simply: is there a clear difference between استطاع and يمكنه, and if so, is it the one I've been taught and have tried to explain here?

Thanks.


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## Mahaodeh

Is there a question or are you asking whether your understanding is correct? If it's the latter then yes, you understood the difference correctly.


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## shafaq

Just as the difference between "I can ... " and "I may ...".


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## Sidjanga

Good morning, and thanks for your answers.

My post was obviously not meant to be what it actually looked like all the time. 
The thing is that, when modifying the post shortly after having submitted the question last night, I was suddenly unable to continue, even hours later (for what must have been a problem with the server or my browser or something).

In any case,  when I noticed that there was a problem I managed to copy&paste and safe to a Word document what I'd written, and I've just inserted the part that's been missing so far (in green).

So yes, my question is if that difference actually exists (which seems to be the case); and if so, I wonder if sentences like the one I mention above (للأسف لا نستطيع أن نلتقي اليوم, which I received in an e-mail a while ago) are correct and are somehow 'an exception to that difference', or not.


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## Mahaodeh

I find that it makes as much sense as the English "we can't meet today" as opposed to "we won't be able to meet today".
 
The meaning of استطيع is not a matter of knowing how, it's a matter of a having the capability to do something in general regardless of situations or circumstances. With regards to meeting someone, usually the difference between being capable as a person and being capable due to circumstances becomes blurred because the person's capability to meet someone actually depends on his circumstances. So what he's saying is that today, due to a certain (or certain) situation(s), we are unable to meet.
 
He could have said لا يمكننا أن نلتقي اليوم, which, as you said, would be technically more accurate. But in this particular case, it seems that they mean the same thing.
 
Having said that, in modern days many people use the two words interchangeably, some even use them interchangeably with يقدر so he may say: لا نقدر أن نلتقي اليوم.


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## Sidjanga

Many thanks, Maha!


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## cherine

Hi,


Mahaodeh said:


> Having said that, in modern days many people use the two words interchangeably, some even use them interchangeably with يقدر so he may say: لانقدر أن نلتقي اليوم.


I would like to confirm what Maha said: استطاع - أمكنه are used interchangeably in modern usage (MSA). يقدر is also commonly used with the same meaning.


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## Sidjanga

Thanks, Cherine - ..also for reminding me that أمكن/يمكن is of course a verb and, as such, of course has a ماضي form.


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## elroy

That's true, but in my experience the past tense isn't actually used very often.  Depending on the context, I would use استطاع or تمكن من or كان بإمكانه or كان يمكنه.


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## Sidjanga

elroy said:


> Depending on the context, I would use استطاع or تمكن من or كان بإمكانه or كان يمكنه.


What exactly is "تمكن "من? Is it تمكّن من ?
Could you please give a sample context where you would use it?


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## elroy

Yes, it's تمكّن من.

لم يتمكن من السفر يوم الأربعاء بسبب حالة الطقس


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## cherine

I don't know how often the past form أمكنه is used, but I believe it is common enough, and simple too, to say لم يمكنه السفر يوم الأربعاء just as we say لم يستطِع السفر .


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## Sidjanga

Thanks for the examples.

Is there a difference in connotations or style whether you say لم يتمكن من السفر يوم الأربعاء or لم يستطيع السفر يوم الأربعاء ?


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## elroy

cherine said:


> I don't know how often the past form أمكنه is used, but I believe it is common enough, and simple too, to say لم يمكنه السفر يوم الأربعاء just as we say لم يستطِع السفر .


 That's actually the present tense; it just got a past meaning because of the لم.   Would you say أمكنه السفر يوم الأربعاء?


Sidjanga said:


> Is there Does it make a difference in connotations or style whether you say لم يتمكن من السفر يوم الأربعاء or لم يستطِع السفر يوم الأربعاء ?


 Not really.


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## cherine

elroy said:


> That's actually the present tense; it just got a past meaning because of the لم.  Would you say أمكنه السفر يوم الأربعاء?


 Good point, I think I'd go for استطعت السفر but I still believe there's nothing wrong with using أمكن in some sentences or structures.
But you're right, استطاع is much more common.


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## Calvary Scars II/Aux. Out

Instead of start a new thread, I'll just tack my questions onto this existing one. With regards to أمكن, so far I've only seen it used where it is conjugated in the 3rd person masculine with a direct object marker containing the semantic subject (i.e. يمكنني "I can"). My questions are: (1) when used to mean "one can/may" is the verb always conjugated as 3rd person singular, and (2) are the conjugated forms for other persons -- e.g. أُمْكِنُ, تمكن, تمكنين, etc. -- ever used with the meaning "one can/may"?

Thank you


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## Ghabi

amkana is literally "it is possible for someone to ...", so the thing done is the subject. If you want to have the doer as the subject, you can use tamakkana min.


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## Calvary Scars II/Aux. Out

Got it, thank you.


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