可以 — it can serve to, it does you good.

grammar → 可以

TSUMUGU · TBCL 3 (est.) · 語法

可以 grammar point · tier 1 · 可以 — circumstance / activity enables a good outcome (it can do you good)

· kěyǐ

Before a verb whose subject is an activity or condition: doing this brings a benefit within reach — it can serve to, it does you good.

Hook inherited from 可以.

Before a verb whose subject is an activity or condition

框 · Frame

[activity / condition] 可以 [verb phrase naming the benefit]

觸 · Trigger

You name a thing you do and the good it brings about — this activity serves to bring that result.

序 · The move

1front the activity or condition that does the workis the subject a thing done, not a person being granted leave?

2set 可以 before the verb naming what the activity brings aboutdoes it read as a benefit the action enables, not a sanction someone gives?

3name the good outcome the activity reachescould you swap in 能 here? if so the enabling reading is the live one, not permission

例 · Examples

1游泳swimming可以can serve to, does you good讓make / let身體the body更健康healthier。

Swimming can make the body healthier.

界 · Boundary

可以2

可以3 has an activity bring about a benefit (游泳可以讓身體健康 — swimming does the body good); 可以2 has a rule or person grant leave to someone (你可以走 — you may go). The subject sorts them: an activity that confers good is 可以3, a person who is allowed is 可以2.

能

可以3 says doing the thing serves to reach a good outcome; 能 says the conditions make a thing possible at all. They overlap (游泳能讓身體健康 also works), but 可以3 frames the activity as good for the result, 能 as merely able to bring it about.

treating the activity as a permitted person: 游泳被可以讓身體健康 → 游泳可以讓身體更健康

negating with 沒: 抽菸沒可以讓你健康 → 抽菸不可以讓你健康（and the enabling reading shifts to a warning）

reaching for 會 (likelihood / skill): 運動會讓身體健康（means it is likely to） → 運動可以讓身體更健康（it serves to）

English 'can' covers ability, permission, and 'it can do you good' alike, so learners use one word for all three where Mandarin sorts the enabling-benefit reading (可以3) from skill (會) and bare possibility (能).