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What would be the difference in the meaning/grammar of 遊んで and 遊べて? Someone wrote me a text saying 一緒に遊べて楽しかったよ. I understand the meaning, but now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever come across the grammar of 遊べて before. I tried asking someone, and they provided me with the following examples:

遊んでほしい
遊んでください
遊んでばかりいないで勉強しなさい

遊べて嬉しいです
最近遊べてなかった

The use is clearly different, but I want to narrow down what the exact meaning of 遊べて is so that I may use it properly in the future.

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遊べて is the て from of 遊べる 'able to play/hang out'. 'It was fun being able to hang out with you.' Basically, as we'd usually say in English (thank you for the suggestion, A. Ellett), 'It was fun getting to hang out with you.'

遊んで is just the て form of the base 遊ぶ.

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  • In the US, folks often say, "It's great we got to hang out." Not quite a literal translation as you've given, but I think "got" here pretty obviously implies "we were able to hang out". Just my two cents.
    – A.Ellett
    Apr 10, 2021 at 0:18
  • That makes much more sense. Thank you so much for your help!
    – ゆめまる
    Apr 10, 2021 at 0:21
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    @A.Ellett I had to stop myself from writing 'getting to hang out' just to make things clearer. In a normal situation, that's the translation I definitely would use.
    – Angelos
    Apr 10, 2021 at 0:22
  • Why not then just add a line to your answer that says something like, "In more colloquial English..."? My point was just that I wasn't sure whether folks from other parts of the Anglosphere used the same expression.
    – A.Ellett
    Apr 10, 2021 at 0:27
  • It's nice to add a more natural English translation, but the original translation 'It was fun being able to hang out with you', if awkward, is still necessary and welcomed by those of us who don't speak English as our native language.
    – jarmanso7
    Apr 11, 2021 at 2:49

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