Do you know how to swim? as compared to Can you swim? (2025)

Generally speaking the expressions are equivalent, however a soldier wounded to the point of losing his arms and legs might "know how to swim," but obviously might not be able to do so.

My preference is "can you swim?"

Thank you very much sdg, HG, eb So, "can" is the way to go.
I'm at my wit's end figuring the reason for the huge result report for "do you know how to swim" though... Maybe Google dropped the quotes at page 4651321?

By the way, I'm aware of the other meanings of the word -- "can you swim in honey" means "is it technically possible to swim in honey?" (click the link for the answer) but my intention was of course to convey the meaning "have you learned to swim?".

"Do you know how..." is a theoretical question. You know how to swim, but can you swim? is a concrete question.

I know how to swim--I mastered the crawl stroke and I know how to kick, but I have (or had in college) negative boyancy--I would sink to the bottom of the pool.

To the question: Do you know how to swim? Answer: Yes.

To the question: Can you swim? Answer: [Either A or B], A. Yes, for a very short distance. or B. No, not really.

Packard said:

"Do you know how..." is a theoretical question. You know how to swim, but can you swim? is a concrete question.

I know how to swim--I mastered the crawl stroke and I know how to kick, but I have (or had in college) negative boyancy--I would sink to the bottom of the pool.

To the question: Do you know how to swim? Answer: Yes.

To the question: Can you swim? Answer: [Either A or B], A. Yes, for a very short distance. or B. No, not really.

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I have encountered the following dialogue (in an exercise about the Present Simple and the Present Continuous):
A Do you know how to speak French?
B Yes, I'm learning it at the moment.

I was surprised to see the question "Do you know how to speak French?" because it sounds to me like "Do you know how to operate this device, e.g. a digital camera?"
Normally you hear questions like "Can you speak French" or "Do you speak French."

So the question "Do you know how to speak French?" is a question about theoretical knowledge of French rather than about the ability to speak French.
One knows how to speak French because they're learning the language, watching French films, listening to music, audio lessons ... .

Andygc said:

wolfbm1. I'd see it as a very odd question which no native speaker would ask. The answer would not be "Yes, I'm learning it at the moment" but "Yes, you breathe in and then exhale, making noises with your vocal cords, and modifying those noises with mouth, lips and tongue".

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Thank you, Andy. That answer came to my mind too.

LilianaB said:

Yes, I agree it is correct

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Who are you agreeing with? "Do you know how to speak French?" may be a grammatically correct sentence, but it is not an English sentence (if you consider English to be a language that people use rather than an academic exercise). The original sentence "Do you know how to swim?" does, at least, have some meaning, in that swimming requires an acquired knowledge of the body movements that are necessary for swimming as opposed to some other physical activity.

Q. "Do you know how to speak English?" A. See post #9.
Q. "Do you know how to speak French?" A. Of course, I just told you, see post #9.

Myridon said:

I guess we speak some language that isn't English in these here parts. I think both sentences whether they're about swimming or French are perfectly ordinary everyday speech and mean exactly the same thing.

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Right-oh. I'll change that to "From my personal, BE perspective" .

I too would be

to be asked Do you know how to speak French?

Andygc said:

..."Yes, you breathe in and then exhale, making noises with your vocal cords, and modifying those noises with mouth, lips and tongue".

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That would be the answer to the question 'Do you know how to speak?' To answer correctly our question, I would add at the end of your sentence '...using French words and at least trying to sound French' All of this was by the way, though - I agree that 'Do you know how to speak French?' is an odd question pertaining to the technique to be employed, rather than your own ability to produce French speech. I do not know if it is used in AE but this combination of English words asks me if, in theory, I know how to go about speaking French. Of course, the pragmatic meaning that equates it to 'Can you speak French?' is there as well but the question remains inaccurate for me...

ewie said:

I too would be

amazed

to be asked Do you know how to speak French?

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I agree with Myridon (at least I think I am agreeing with him). While "Can you speak French/swim/juggle?" is the most common and probably the way I'd usually say this, "Do you know how to swim?" and "Do you know how to speak French?" sound perfectly ordinary to me. They sound so ordinary that I am more than a little surprised that anybody finds them even slightly odd.

JustKate said:

I agree with Myridon (at least I think I am agreeing with him). While "Can you speak French/swim/juggle?" is the most common and probably the way I'd usually say this, "Do you know how to swim?" and "Do you know how to speak French?" sound perfectly ordinary to me. They sound so ordinary that I am more than a little surprised that anybody finds them even slightly odd.

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I agree with this entirely.

Myridon said:

I guess we speak some language that isn't English in these here parts. I think both sentences whether they're about swimming or French are perfectly ordinary everyday speech and mean exactly the same thing.

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Yes, it is often heard over here, both sentences -- "Do you know how to speak French" and "Do you know how to swim" are used by many people -- especially some slightly older people, born in the US. I knew one woman, a high school teacher who used to say it all the time. In fact, I even heard teenagers speak like that.