# 能 and 可以 Before a Verb: 1,313 Clauses

> 能 and 可以 stand before the verb in 1,313 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), separating what is possible from what is permitted.

**Pattern:** subject + 能 / 可以 + verb
**HSK level:** 2 — the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'
**Rule used to find it:** 能 or 可以 immediately before a word with a verb sense.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 1,313 matches checked, 100% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

能 is ability or possibility — 谁能判断这众多的民呢, who is able to judge this great people? 可以 leans towards permission — 都可以吃, may eat. The line between them is not sharp in modern Chinese and it is not sharp here either, but the law codes lean on 可以 precisely because they are about what is allowed.

The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 能 852 times, 可以 830 times. 369 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.

Both are negated with 不, not 没有, because they are about states rather than events. 不能 is cannot; 不可 is may not, and in this translation 不可 opens most of the commandments.

It is commonest in Deuteronomy, with 90 of them, and 71% of all of them fall in the Old Testament — which is mostly a statement about length, since the Old Testament is the longer part of the book.

## Examples

- **John 18:21** — 你为什么问我呢？可以问那听见的人，我对他们说的是什么；我所说的，他们都知道。」
  - nǐ wèi shén me wèn wǒ ne ？ kě yǐ wèn nà tīng jiàn de rén ， wǒ duì tā men shuō de shì shén me ； wǒ suǒ shuō de ， tā men dōu zhī dào 。」
  - Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Behold, they know the things which I said.”
  - construction: 可以问
- **Luke 18:41** — 「你要我为你做什么？」他说：「主啊，我要能看见。」
  - 「 nǐ yào wǒ wèi nǐ zuò shén me ？」 tā shuō ：「 zhǔ a ， wǒ yào néng kàn jiàn 。」
  - “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
  - construction: 能看见
- **Acts 11:14** — 他有话告诉你，可以叫你和你的全家得救。』
  - tā yǒu huà gào sù nǐ ， kě yǐ jiào nǐ hé nǐ de quán jiā dé jiù 。』
  - who will speak to you words by which you will be saved, you and all your house.’
  - construction: 可以叫
- **Matthew 20:33** — 他们说：「主啊，要我们的眼睛能看见！」
  - tā men shuō ：「 zhǔ a ， yào wǒ men de yǎn jing néng kàn jiàn ！」
  - They told him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”
  - construction: 能看见
- **Genesis 2:23** — 那人说： 这是我骨中的骨， 肉中的肉， 可以称她为「女人」， 因为她是从「男人」身上取出来的。
  - nà rén shuō ：  zhè shì wǒ gǔ zhōng de gǔ ，  ròu zhōng de ròu ，  kě yǐ chēng tā wéi 「 nǚ rén 」，  yīn wèi tā shì cóng 「 nán rén 」 shēn shang qǔ chū lái de 。
  - The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”
  - construction: 可以称
- **1 Samuel 17:56** — 王说：「你可以问问那幼年人是谁的儿子。」
  - wáng shuō ：「 nǐ kě yǐ wèn wèn nà yòu nián rén shì shuí de ér zi 。」
  - The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is!”
  - construction: 可以问

## The words this point is built on

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 能 | néng | 1 | 852 |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | 2 | 830 |

The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 2.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 1,313 | 78% |
| the same words doing something else | 369 | 22% |

## Where it occurs most

| Book | Clauses |
| --- | --- |
| Deuteronomy | 90 |
| Job | 85 |
| Genesis | 69 |
| Exodus | 63 |
| Jeremiah | 59 |

Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.

## Questions

**Which one do the Ten Commandments use?**

不可 — the negated permission. Thou shalt not is rendered as may not rather than cannot, which is the same distinction the Hebrew makes.

**How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?**

1,313 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 1,682 occurrences of the words that mark it.

**Which book of the Bible uses it most?**

Deuteronomy, with 90 — followed by Job (85), Genesis (69), Exodus (63).

**How do you know the count is right?**

The rule is: 能 or 可以 immediately before a word with a verb sense. 30 of its 1,313 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/neng-keyi

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