Capable of vs. capable to

[Nicole]

Hi, I'm a bit confused: I used to think that capable is followed by of as in She is capable of making her own decisions. Now I have found this phrase in an online dictionary:

capable to inherit

Is this a Germanism that does not exist in real English?

Thank you,
Nicole
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[Alan]

Hi Nicole, I agree capable of is the usual constuctiom as in:

capable of deceiving others/ capable of deceit.

I don't know capable to. Perhaps it's a sort of muddled variation of capacity to as in: have the capacity to deceive.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[bittu]

Hi,
could you please illustrate "nevertheless, however, nonetheless, yet, still, all the same and, as well"?
thanks in advance
bittu :roll:

[Elisabethbaker]

Hi,

You know, when someone is "capable of anything", you think suspicious thoughts, not confident thoughts.

I suggest that an entity could be capable *of* deceiving or some other undesirable concept -- even capable of being easily cheated.

In contrast, I suggest that a company or organization can claim to be capable *to* fulfill desired objectives -- capable to enable the client organization to exceed customer expectations within a desired period of time, for example.

"Our company is capable to assist you."

Best regards,
Elisabeth Baker

[Alan]

Hi Elizabeth,

Welcome to the forum. I can't accept 'capable to' because I would only say 'capable of'. Perhaps this should be:

[Elisabethbaker]

Shouldn't "Our company is able to assist" be "Our company can assist"?

Google search ["capable to" -"capable of"] reveals about 24,300,000 results, including SAP.com official documentation.

In business, industry and (especially) management consulting terms, perhaps "capable" carries a more functional connotation than "able".