可 — may, be allowed to. The bare single-character form belongs to formal and written register, and most often appears negated as 不可 (may not, must not).

TSUMUGU · TBCL 4 (est.) · 語法

可 grammar point · tier 1 · 可 — formal permission modal (may, be permitted to; usually negated 不可)

· kě

Sits before a verb to mark the act as permitted — may, be allowed to. The bare single-character form belongs to formal and written register, and most often appears negated as 不可 (may not, must not).

Hook inherited from 可以.

Sits before a verb to mark the act as permitted — may, be allowed to. The bare single-character form belongs to formal a

框 · Frame

[subj] (不) 可 [verb phrase]

觸 · Trigger

You are stating in formal or written terms that an act is permitted, or — far more often — that it is not.

序 · The move

1name who the leave falls on: the subjectis this leave granted or withheld by rule, not raw ability? ability is 能

2set 可 before the verb to permit, 不可 to forbidis the register formal or written? in speech the everyday form is 可以

3let the verb phrase the leave covers followdid you negate with 不 (不可), never 沒?

例 · Examples

1一般民眾the general public不可免費free of charge使用use本校this school (formal)的游泳池swimming pool。

The general public may not use the school's swimming pool free of charge.

界 · Boundary

可以

Same approval, two registers. 可 is the bare, formal/written modal, and leans to the prohibitive 不可 (不可入內). 可以 is the everyday spoken form, free in plain affirmatives and questions (我可以進去嗎). A spoken request reaches for 可以; a posted rule reaches for 不可.

能

可 grants or refuses leave by rule (you are permitted / not permitted). 能 asserts capacity or conditions (you are able / it is feasible). 不可使用 — use is not allowed; 不能使用 — it cannot be used / it does not work.

negating with 沒: 沒可使用 → 不可使用（leave is barred by 不, never 沒）

ability where a rule is meant: 民眾不能使用 read as 'the public is unable to use it' → 民眾不可使用（不可 = not permitted）

bare affirmative 可 in casual speech: 我可去嗎 (stiff/formal) → 我可以去嗎（spoken request takes 可以）

English 'may / may not' and 'can / cannot' both blur permission with ability, so learners reach for one modal where Chinese splits leave (可 / 可以) from capacity (能). Register also splits: the single 可 reads as formal or written, and its plain affirmative feels stiff in speech.