Ability with 会

会 (huì) is placed before a verb to express ability — specifically, the kind of ability you acquire through learning or practice. "I can speak Chinese" is "我会说中文" (wǒ huì shuō Zhōngwén). "She can drive" is "她会开车" (tā huì kāi chē). If you studied, practiced, or trained to gain the skill, 会 is the right word.

会 is different from 能 (néng) and 可以 (kěyǐ), which also translate to "can" in English. 会 focuses on learned ability ("I know how to swim" = 我会游泳), while 能 focuses on physical or circumstantial ability ("I can swim today because my arm healed" = 我今天能游泳), and 可以 focuses on permission ("You may swim here" = 你可以在这里游泳). At the HSK 1 level, focus on 会 for skills and learned abilities.

To negate, use 不会: "我不会做饭" (wǒ bú huì zuò fàn, "I can't cook"). To ask, add 吗 or use 会不会: "你会游泳吗？" (Can you swim?). 会 also has a secondary meaning of "will" for future probability ("明天会下雨" = It will rain tomorrow), but the learned-skill meaning is more important at this stage.