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Joe2012 Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Using "able to" for past tence...

Friends, can we use able to in past tense like this: "I didn't able to come online because I was busy" or should it be like this: "I wasn't able to come online because I was busy".

Here I'm confuse regarding the usage of "didn't" with able to. Please help in clarifying this.

Thanks
  

Top answer

I am not a native English speaker but I can say: the first sentence is wrong as "able" is an adjective which means that using "didn't" isn't right. The second sentence is right. "

— Anonymous

  • I am not a native English speaker but I can say: the first sentence is wrong as "able" is an adjective which means that using "didn't" isn't right.
  • The second sentence is right.
  • "
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2 Answers
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I am not a native English speaker but I can say:

the first sentence is wrong as "able" is an adjective which means that using "didn't" isn't right.

The second sentence is right.

Also "Here I'm confuse" it's supposed to be "confused"

And "help in clarifying" is supposed to be "help me by clarifying..."
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'able' is not a verb: there is no past tense. It is never used with 'did' in the way you described. The past tense comes from another verb, 'to be' in this case. "I wasn't able to come online ..." is correct.
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