I am asking about objective conditions (do you think I know how to) but using the conditional instead of the present puts more emphasis on the listener, on their ability to assess the situation, which is a tacit acknowledgement of their authority.See also: List of viral music videos § Ads and campaigns ![]() Using the modal auxiliary can in the conditional, 'unrealising' the present, making it hypothetical, dampens the shock. Represents a middle ground between rudeness and self-humiliation, which can satisfy both the speaker and the listener! – etymologically again – means something like Would your highness allow me to go to the bathroom? and, in the classless world we live in (?) we are not really ready to your-highness anyone if we can avoid it! Well, little children cannot really avoid it for a question of stature and status, but, when you have grown up, using may is felt as humiliating, as if you were kneeling in front of someone. – etymologically – is not really appropriate for asking permission as it means something like Do you think I know how to go to the bathroom?, which might sound rude, even! May is about power, the position a person is in to grant or refuse another person permission to do something, says the Online Etymology dictionary. The word can comes from Proto-Germanic kunnanĬan is about ability, skills, knowing how to do things, whereas the word may comes from Proto-Germanic root mag-, infinitive maganan, from Proto-Indo-European magh. ![]() Why not ask etymology for some help here?
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