may, can, could

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Hi everybody. I want to ask about your opinion regarding the following sentences,

-You may park you car here. (Chiefly used when a speaker wants to give permission).

-You can park your car here. (An alternative for may, used to give an idea for permission, colloquial or informal English).

-You could park your car here. (Giving an idea of conditional).

What do you think? Am I right or am I right ? Cool

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That's right as far as it goes. I would add, though, that "You can park your car here" may not necessarily convey permission but simple possibility: e.g. "look, there's an empty space, you can park your car here".

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Thanks syntinen

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Re: may, can, could

navigator wrote:

Hi everybody. I want to ask about your opinion regarding the following sentences,

-You may park you car here. (Chiefly used when a speaker wants to give permission).

-You can park your car here. (An alternative for may, used to give an idea for permission, colloquial or informal English).

-You could park your car here. (Giving an idea of conditional).

What do you think? Am I right or am I right ?

-You could park your car here. (Giving an idea of conditional).

This can also have the same meaning as "you can park your car here", meaning "it's possible". Using 'could' is just more deferential, less assuming. The intonation would alert us to a conditional sense or a polite sense.

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may, can, could

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