能
néng
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Can, to be able to — because one has the strength or because circumstances allow it. 我今天不能来 'I can't come today'. In questions it also asks permission: 我能看看吗 'may I have a look?'. For a skill that had to be learned Chinese prefers 会, and for 'may' it prefers 可以.
Có thể, làm được: vì đủ sức hoặc vì điều kiện cho phép. 我今天不能来 (hôm nay tôi không đến được). Trong câu hỏi còn dùng để xin phép: 我能看看吗？ (tôi xem một chút được không?). Việc phải học mới biết làm thì thường dùng 会, còn “được phép” thì thường dùng 可以.
VerbRegister: neutral
Examples
Editorial example (illustrative, not a corpus attestation) — awaiting a native-speaker check
Sources & notes
Hán-Việt bridge batch 063 (2026-11-14). Headword, Traditional form and pinyin checked against CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0) source ↗ · Hán-Việt reading: Unihan kVietnamese source ↗ · No Vietnamese entry is linked as its twin; the Hán-Việt reading is given character by character. Definition, literal gloss and example sentence are original; the example has not had a native-speaker check yet.
Common questions
What does “能” mean?
Can, to be able to — because one has the strength or because circumstances allow it. 我今天不能来 'I can't come today'. In questions it also asks permission: 我能看看吗 'may I have a look?'. For a skill that had to be learned Chinese prefers 会, and for 'may' it prefers 可以.
Is “能” formal or informal?
能 is generally neutral.