Time to get grammatical (oh no!). Yeah, I pretty much hate it, but this time it does make things clearer. Today’s expression has everything to do with the verb saber – “to know”.
You probably already know many of its uses, but you might not be familiar with the following use. Like in English, you want to say that someone can’t do something, right? And no, I don’t mean that someone can’t do it at the moment, but simple can’t do it. Like me; I really don’t know how to dance: no sé bailar.
Yup, no sé bailar is the correct form, but many learners make a mistake by saying no puedo bailar. Sure, it could be that you can’t dance at the moment (maybe you have a broken leg or something), but you might know how to dance.
Some examples:
No sé bailar.
I can dance. / I don’t know how to dance.
No sabes leer.
You can’t read. / You don’t know how to read.
No sabe nadar.
He can’t swim. / He doesn’t know how to swim.
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