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You are here: Home / English lessons / “can afford something” | English vocabulary

“can afford something” | English vocabulary

26th July 2015 by Andrew

If I can afford something, then I have enough money to buy it.

The form is:

subject + “can afford” + noun

For example:


If a Ferrari costs £100,000 (one hundred thousand pounds), and I have £150,000 (one hundred and fifty thousand pounds), then I can afford a Ferrari.

Ferrari

Negative

If I do not have enough money to buy something, then we use the negative.

For example: A Ferrari costs £100,000 but I only have £50,000, then I can’t afford a Ferrari.

Past tense

subject + “could afford” + noun

Example: Last year I could afford a holiday in Spain.

 

“can afford” + infinitive

Instead of a noun, we can use “can afford” with a verb in the infinitive form to describe an activity for which we have enough money.

Example: I can afford to go to London every weekend.

 

affordable

“affordable” is an adjective. It describes a noun that we have enough money to buy.

Example:

That computer is affordable.   ( = It is possible to buy that computer. It is not too expensive)

Question

What can you afford to do next weekend? Tell me in the comments. 🙂

Filed Under: English lessons

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. aziz says

    2nd August 2015 at 5:34 pm

    ex: I can afford to go to restaurant when I get my salary.

    Thank you very much for your lessons .

    • Brusa claude says

      29th July 2016 at 8:37 am

      next weekend I can afford to listen a concert because Ihave enought money to pay it.

  2. Tavous says

    3rd August 2015 at 3:01 pm

    I can afford a house
    Because I have enough money
    Is that correct

    • Jten merde says

      31st May 2022 at 10:41 am

      Moi moi perso j’habite avec mon daron riche j’ai une villea un macdo un cinéma un bowling pour moi

  3. maitien says

    3rd August 2015 at 5:58 pm

    I can afford a large farm then I will grow organic vegetables.

  4. Pat says

    6th August 2015 at 9:42 am

    I could afford a holiday every year untill I was made redundant.

  5. Lucía says

    6th August 2015 at 3:18 pm

    I can afford to take my friend out for dinner in a nice restaurant to celebrate her birthday on Sunday.

  6. Mehdi ben chikha says

    10th August 2015 at 3:33 pm

    I can afford to go on holiday next week.

  7. Ivan Zuleta says

    25th August 2015 at 9:22 pm

    I really Glads you have this web ,help a lot of people as me to improve us English.

  8. Mrs.Razaq says

    2nd September 2015 at 3:15 am

    Hello sir, your lessons are very useful for me & my English is improving every day by your excellent teaching thank you so much you are the best teacher in the world. ” I can afford to go to hotel for lunch with our family next weekend”.

  9. Alexandre Correa says

    3rd September 2015 at 9:59 pm

    I can’t afford to go to London every year as i’d like.

    thank’s, you are the best!

  10. Bahlool says

    20th September 2015 at 7:19 pm

    I could afford a big party last year but I didn’t
    Thank you so much for your teaching, now I can use it in my daily speaking.

  11. Rohan says

    18th November 2015 at 6:26 am

    Hi dear
    I’m looking a good friend to improve my english knoledge

  12. Hetal says

    1st December 2015 at 11:47 am

    Hi Andrew Sir. From yesterday, I started to learning English from your videos . It’s really helpful my improvement in English and I will do exercise every day.

    I can afford to go India every year to visit my parents , if I get permanent job.

    I can afford to spend time and money to learning English for my career, if I am an enthusiastic.

  13. Hetal says

    1st December 2015 at 11:54 am

    Thank you Andrew Sir. You doing great work for who always want to improve their English.

    I have question , Are you doing any online English course not ielts but general English course which can help to writing and speaking English. I am very interested to do that. If you are doing please let me know. Thank you once again for reading my comment.

    Hetal.

  14. Thupten says

    17th January 2016 at 12:13 am

    I am Thupten. I learn English

  15. Thupten says

    17th January 2016 at 12:13 am

    Hello

  16. CATERINA says

    10th February 2016 at 12:22 am

    I CAN AFFORD TO GO ON A DAY TRIP NEXT WEEKEND. THE COACH TICKET COSTS € 20, SO I THINK IT IS AFFORDABLE.
    THANK YOU FOR YOUR LESSON.
    CATERINA.

  17. Leticia Nkrumah says

    6th April 2016 at 9:45 pm

    I have watch your videos and l would like to improve my English,grammar.

  18. Mohamed says

    7th April 2016 at 2:37 am

    Next week i will take a vacation and I can afford gifts for my family

  19. Min says

    25th April 2016 at 3:54 pm

    If I were a rich man,I could afford buy lots of things.

  20. faisal says

    28th April 2016 at 10:26 am

    i can afford to leave my car because i have an onther car

  21. faisal says

    28th April 2016 at 10:31 am

    I can afford to leave my car i f i get an other

  22. Pedro Oyanadel says

    2nd May 2016 at 4:57 am

    i can afford to go to the football game next sunday

  23. Houda says

    21st July 2016 at 6:59 am

    I can afford to travel to Casablanca

  24. kr srinivasan says

    21st July 2016 at 11:03 am

    I can afford to buy a Jean

  25. Nour Khaled says

    21st July 2016 at 2:07 pm

    I can afford to have a day use with my friends next week .

  26. alpa says

    21st June 2017 at 9:15 am

    The hotel room price was affordable ,apart from it , Service was an excellent.

    I cannot afford to spent too much time in other useless task as I have to stick to plan in order to delever it.

    Thank you Andrew , its really helpful.

  27. Adriana says

    23rd August 2017 at 1:07 pm

    This weekend, I can afford to oversleep, because my children are at their grandparents.

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