Timeline for verb てーform + もいいです VS. verb + こと + ができます: whether equivalent or not
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 30, 2020 at 6:37 | comment | added | jarmanso7 | If they do not have the necessary payment terminal machine (which is usually the case in shops where you can pay only with cash)? Then it's impossible to pay by card. You are not able to pay by card. So it's ability, not permission. | |
| Dec 26, 2019 at 11:49 | comment | added | Kaskade | It just means that the cashier is asking the customer to pay in cash. The answer alone doesn't contain the reason for the cashier's request. But like I said, in this context, there's not really a difference, anyway... | |
| Dec 26, 2019 at 11:42 | comment | added | billzt | The answer is "すみませんが、現金でお願いします". It means paying by card is not permit. | |
| Dec 26, 2019 at 11:39 | comment | added | Kaskade | How do you conclude that it obviously expresses permission here? I fail to see it. | |
| Dec 26, 2019 at 11:34 | comment | added | billzt | However in some popular Japanese textbooks such as 'みんなの日本語', there are really a lot of sentences using "ことができますか" to express permission rather than ability. For example, A: カードで払うことができますか。(May I pay by card?) B: すみませんが、現金でお願いします。(Sorry, please pay by cash). Obviously in this sentence it expresses permission rather than ability. | |
| Dec 26, 2019 at 11:20 | history | answered | Kaskade | CC BY-SA 4.0 |