<p>For the 'asking for permission' function, 能 is similar to 'can' and  可以/可否 is similar to 'may' in English.</p>

<p>Strictly speaking, 'may' is the proper word to use and is considered more polite and formal, for example "May I ask you a question" but in casual day to day speech, more and more people think replacing 'may' with 'can' and say "can I ask you a question?" is acceptable. I would still suggest you use 'may' (可以/可否) instead of 'can' (能) </p>

<p>Cantonese do not use 能 or 能够 when ask for permission. We say "可以" as in "我可以問你一個問題嗎？" which is a polite way to ask. To be more polite, we would say "我可唔可以問你一個問題？" </p>

<p>In Mandarin, "我可不可以問你一個問題?" (more colloquial)  or "我可否問你一個問題?" (more literary) are the more polite form compare to "我能問你一個問題嗎？" </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-11T15:01:23.987Z
Thanks for always responding so promptly and with such detail! 謝謝你一直那麼快那麽詳細回答我的問題！你真太好人了！
Crashalot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-11T09:38:11.257Z
2018-09-11T09:46:56.773Z
2018-09-11T09:46:56.773Z
Tang Ho
<p>According to <a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_ability_or_possibility_with_%22neng%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this site</a>, both 能 and 可以 can be used to politely ask for permission.</p>

<p>1) Which is considered more polite?</p>

<p>2) Which is more formal?</p>

<p>3) Is it the same for Cantonese?</p>

<grammar><mandarin><cantonese>
Which is the more polite way to ask for permission: 能 or 可以?
# Which is the more polite way to ask for permission: 能 or 可以?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-09-11)

According to [this site](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_ability_or_possibility_with_%22neng%22), both 能 and 可以 can be used to politely ask for permission.

1) Which is considered more polite?

2) Which is more formal?

3) Is it the same for Cantonese?

**Tags:** grammar, mandarin, cantonese


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-09-11. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

For the 'asking for permission' function, 能 is similar to 'can' and 可以/可否 is similar to 'may' in English.

Strictly speaking, 'may' is the proper word to use and is considered more polite and formal, for example "May I ask you a question" but in casual day to day speech, more and more people think replacing 'may' with 'can' and say "can I ask you a question?" is acceptable. I would still suggest you use 'may' (可以/可否) instead of 'can' (能)

Cantonese do not use 能 or 能够 when ask for permission. We say "可以" as in "我可以問你一個問題嗎？" which is a polite way to ask. To be more polite, we would say "我可唔可以問你一個問題？"

In Mandarin, "我可不可以問你一個問題?" (more colloquial) or "我可否問你一個問題?" (more literary) are the more polite form compare to "我能問你一個問題嗎？"

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for always responding so promptly and with such detail! 謝謝你一直那麼快那麽詳細回答我的問題！你真太好人了！  

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