会 (huì) is the first of Mandarin's three "can" words, and the most important one to pin down early because English hides its two jobs behind different words. 会 means (1) know how to — a skill or knowledge you have acquired — and (2) be likely to / will — a confident prediction about what the future holds. English uses can for the first and will for the second, so learners rarely suspect the two are the same word in Chinese. The thread that ties them together is that both live inside the mind: what you have learned, and what you expect. Physical strength in the moment and permission to act belong to different words (能 and 可以) — 会 is never about either.
会 for learned skills
The core, everyday use of 会 is to say you have learned how to do something: swim, drive, cook, speak a language, use chopsticks, play an instrument. The skill lives in you now because at some point you acquired it. This is a yes/no property — you either know how or you don't — which is why 会 doesn't care about degree or circumstance.
我会游泳。
wǒ huì yóuyǒng
I can swim. (informal) — I have learned the skill, so 会.
他会说三种语言。
tā huì shuō sān zhǒng yǔyán
He can speak three languages. (neutral) — acquired knowledge: 会.
你会做饭吗？
nǐ huì zuò fàn ma?
Do you know how to cook? (informal) — asking whether the skill was learned.
Notice the translation of that last one: "do you know how to cook," not "are you able to cook right now." That is the exact flavour of 会 — competence, not opportunity. A useful reframing for English speakers: wherever you could paraphrase can as know how to, 会 is almost always the right modal.
她会弹钢琴，可是弹得不太好。
tā huì tán gāngqín, kěshì tán de bú tài hǎo
She can play the piano, but not very well. (neutral) — 会 marks that she has the skill; how well she plays is a separate matter.
That example is worth pausing on. 会 says the skill exists; it says nothing about quality. "She can play but plays badly" is not a contradiction in Chinese, because 会 is binary. To talk about how well or how much, you move to 能 or a degree complement.
会 for likelihood and prediction
The second job of 会 surprises learners: it marks a future prediction you feel fairly sure of — the "will" of forecasting, not scheduling. Weather, outcomes, other people's behaviour: when you judge that something is likely to happen, you slot 会 in front of the verb.
明天会下雨吗？
míngtiān huì xià yǔ ma?
Will it rain tomorrow? (neutral) — a prediction about the future, so 会.
你觉得他会同意吗？
nǐ juéde tā huì tóngyì ma?
Do you think he'll agree? (informal) — forecasting someone's response.
这样做会出问题的。
zhèyàng zuò huì chū wèntí de
Doing it this way will cause problems. (neutral) — a confident prediction of the outcome.
This predictive 会 is often closed off with a sentence-final 的 (de), which raises the confidence to something like "I'm telling you, it will." The 会…的 frame is how a native speaker reassures or warns you.
别担心，他会来的。
bié dānxīn, tā huì lái de
Don't worry, he'll come. (informal) — 会…的 signals real confidence: I'm sure of it.
The 会…的 pattern is treated in full on the future certainty with 会…的 page. For now, the takeaway is that this "will" is genuinely 会 — not 要, not 将 — whenever you are predicting rather than intending. "I'm going to Shanghai tomorrow" (your own plan) is 要, but "it'll probably be crowded" (your forecast) is 会.
The two meanings never collide
Learners worry that one 会 sentence could mean either "know how to" or "will." In practice, context resolves it instantly, because the two readings attach to different kinds of subjects and verbs. A person + a learnable action gives the skill reading; an event, an outcome, or a subject that can't "learn" anything gives the prediction reading. 天 (the sky) can't learn to rain, so 天会下雨 can only be a forecast.
我以前不会用筷子，现在会了。
wǒ yǐqián bú huì yòng kuàizi, xiànzài huì le
I couldn't use chopsticks before; now I can. (informal) — skill reading, with 会了 marking the newly acquired ability.
| Job of 会 | English equivalent | Example | What it's about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learned skill | can / know how to | 我会开车 (wǒ huì kāichē) | competence you acquired |
| Prediction | will / is likely to | 明天会冷 (míngtiān huì lěng) | a future outcome you expect |
Negating with 不会
Both jobs of 会 negate to 不会 (bú huì — note the tone change on 不 before the fourth-tone 会). It means "don't know how to" in the skill sense, and "won't / is unlikely to" in the prediction sense.
我不会开车，你来开吧。
wǒ bú huì kāichē, nǐ lái kāi ba
I can't drive — you drive. (informal) — I never learned; the skill isn't there.
放心，这个电影不会让你失望的。
fàngxīn, zhège diànyǐng bú huì ràng nǐ shīwàng de
Relax — this film won't disappoint you. (informal) — prediction reading, with reassuring 不会…的.
我觉得他明天不会来。
wǒ juéde tā míngtiān bú huì lái
I don't think he'll come tomorrow. (neutral) — English attaches the negative to 'think', but Chinese negates the prediction itself: 不会来.
That last sentence is a classic English-transfer trap and worth memorising. English says "I don't think he'll come"; Chinese leaves 觉得 positive and negates the embedded prediction — 我觉得他不会来, literally "I think he won't come." Get into the habit of moving the 不 onto the 会.
Common Mistakes
1. Using 会 for a momentary, circumstantial inability. 会 is about acquired skill, never about whether conditions allow you to act right now. "I'm too tired to run today" is about circumstance, so it needs 能, not 会.
❌ 我今天很累，不会跑步。
Incorrect — you clearly know how to run; today's tiredness is a circumstance, so it must be 不能.
✅ 我今天很累，不能跑步。
wǒ jīntiān hěn lèi, bù néng pǎobù
I'm too tired to run today. — circumstance blocks it, so 不能.
2. Using 可以 for a learned skill. Because English "can" covers both permission and ability, learners reach for 可以 (allowed) when they mean "know how to." A skill claim is 会.
❌ 我可以说一点儿中文。
Wrong flavour — this says 'I'm allowed to speak a little Chinese'; to claim the skill, use 会.
✅ 我会说一点儿中文。
wǒ huì shuō yìdiǎnr Zhōngwén
I can speak a little Chinese. — a learned skill, so 会.
3. Using 会 for a one-off physical feat. Lifting a heavy box isn't a skill you "learned" — it's about strength in the moment, which is 能.
❌ 我会搬这个箱子。
Wrong — lifting a box is physical capacity, not a learned skill; use 能搬.
✅ 我能搬这个箱子。
wǒ néng bān zhège xiāngzi
I can lift this box. — momentary physical capability, so 能.
4. Forgetting that predictions negate as 不会, not bare 不. "It won't rain tomorrow" is a forecast; drop the 会 and it stops sounding like a prediction.
❌ 我想明天不下雨。
Marginal — reads like a bare statement; a forecast needs the predictive 会.
✅ 我想明天不会下雨。
wǒ xiǎng míngtiān bú huì xià yǔ
I don't think it'll rain tomorrow. — 不会 carries the prediction.
Key Takeaways
- 会 (huì) has two jobs: a learned skill (know how to) and a prediction (will / is likely to). Both live "inside the mind."
- The skill reading is binary — you know how or you don't; degree and quality are handled elsewhere (我会弹钢琴，弹得不好).
- The prediction reading is often reinforced by sentence-final 的: 他会来的 "he'll come, I'm sure."
- Both negate to 不会 (bú huì). Move the 不 onto the prediction: 我觉得他不会来, not "I don't think…".
- 会 is not physical capacity in the moment (能) and not permission (可以). When English "can" means "know how to," it's 会 — the full three-way split is on the choosing 会 / 能 / 可以 page.
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- 能 (néng): Capability and CircumstanceHSK 1 — 能 (néng) is 'can' in the sense the conditions allow it right now — physical capacity (我能搬这个箱子), circumstance (今天我不能来), and extent (能游一千米). Negated 不能 also forbids.
- 可以 (kěyǐ): Permission and PossibilityHSK 1 — 可以 (kěyǐ) is 'can' in the sense you're allowed — permission and viable options: 你可以走了 'you may go', 这儿可以抽烟吗 'can I smoke here?'. Negated 不可以 means 'not allowed', never 'unable'.
- Choosing 会 vs 能 vs 可以HSK 2 — English 'can' splits into three Mandarin words: 会 (learned skill / prediction), 能 (capacity or circumstance), 可以 (permission / allowed). One decision — skill, circumstance, or permission — tells you which.
- 会…的 (Confident Prediction)HSK 4 — The 会…的 frame wraps a modal 会 and a sentence-final 的 around a verb to make a confident prediction — 他会来的 'he'll definitely come', 一切都会好的 'everything will be fine'; the bracket upgrades a mere 'may' into a reassuring 'surely will'.