Study some information about negative sentences and questions with 'to be able to' in past.
Щоб побудувати заперечне питання з to be able to в минулому часі, необхідно дотримуватись наступного порядку слів:
subject \(+\) was/were \(+\) not \(+\) able to \(+\) Verb in the \(1\)st form (without 'to') \(+\) other parts of the sentence.
She was not able to cook well when he was ten.
Щоб побудувати загальне та спеціальне питання, дотримуйтесь наступного порядку слів:
General question
Was/Were \(+\) subject \(+\) able to \(+\) Verb in the \(1\)st form (without 'to') \(+\) other parts of the sentence?
Were you able to read when you were at school?
Special question
Question word (when, how, what....) \(+\) was/were \(+\) subject \(+\) able to \(+\) Verb in the \(1\)st form (without 'to') \(+\) other parts of the sentence?
What were they able to do when they lived in Italy?
Джерела:
https://www.gousto.co.uk/blog/quiz-what-kind-of-cook-are-you
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275880