Questions tagged [potential-form]
可能形. The conjugated form that allows the verb to express ability.
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できる/potential form practise
I am learning the potential form and ことができる from my textbook. I made the following sentence up.
コンピューターが間違いができます！
コンピューターが間違えます！
And it was marked as wrong and labelled with
"We use potential ...
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How to handle situations when it is ambiguous whether ～られる is potential or passive?
I already took a look at this question and it says that context is the king. But I wonder what to do in situations when it is still ambiguous whether ～られる is potential or passive?
For example, from ...
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Potential + とこ + verb?
The character is stuck with a flat tire and needs to go to a place. He's unsure of what should he and if he can make in time and says
行けるとこ行くか?
What is the potential here?
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"聞けたら聞いてる" what does it mean? Is it some grammar?
俺だって聞けたら聞いてるよ!
The character got told "Why don't you ask your friend about it?" and then in the next dialog he reflects on that and says this.
I think he's saying it like "If I could ...
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Help understanding a section of "Why" from Crisis Core
I'm translating the song "Why" from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The section below is giving me a hard time for several reasons.
視線をそらす あなたの瞳に
一人で寂しい夜に抱きしめられる
そんな温かさ知ってる？
Is this a long ...
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選挙公約に? What is this exactly?
選挙公約に知事のお墨付きを掲げられれば、一気に勝算が出てくるんです。
I understand 知事のお墨付きを掲げられば、一気に勝算が出てくるんです。 is like "if we can get the gov approval, the prospect of victory will appear"
I assume 掲げられれば is potential here ...
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Usage of もらえる in this sentence
Context: The character is inviting a friend/classmate to a party of the rakugo club. So he tells him "You come to, people who don't do rakugo also come". It's not clear if the character ...
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行けます vs 行きます potential form
I've got the following sentence:
Everyone but my older brother is going on next week's trip.
which, in Japanese, is supposedly
来週の旅行は兄以外みんな行けます。
But since it's got 行けます as opposed to 行きます, which, ...
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Meaning of verb + negative-verb
While reading 君死にたもう流星群 vol. 4, I found this sentence:
黒井{くろい}の本はまったく売れない。いや、売れる売れないというレベルではなく、開始二時間が経つというのに誰ひとり客が来ない
Kuroi is attending together with the main character an event like Comiket, and ...
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Does potential + ばいい has the same nuance of verb + ばいい
いいんだよ別に
こっちはおもしろい記事が書ければいいんだから
My understand of the sentence is akin to "It's fine, I won't mind. If I can write an interesting article it will be fine." The character is trying to gather ...
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Ichidan verb potential form conjugations
I'm having some confusion on the potential form of Japanese verbs, specifically ichidan verbs. The sources I'm using for my learning tell me that I should replace 'ru' with 'rareru' or 'rarenai' (...
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Causative + Potential and the verb 合わせる
What exactly is the use of 合わせる here? Causative + potential?
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Potential form of non-volitional verbs
I have recently learned that apparently non-volitional verbs cannot have potential forms.
Non-volitional verbs cannot have potential forms. This includes verbs of natural phenomenon like 降る, 光る, 流れる, ...
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Understanding "何が釣れましたか"
「何が釣れましたか」 evidently means "what were you able to catch (while fishing)?" in the context of https://youtu.be/7bLVtR7IgUo?t=172 at 2m52s.
But 釣れました ("was able to catch") is the ...
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When is it mandatory to use を with the potential form?
When we start to learn Japanese we are told that が marks the 'object' in sentences with the potential form. We expect 私は日本語を話せる but are told it should be 私は日本語が話せる. It is sometimes justified by ...
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The grammar of 教授がハリーをひとり占めにはできなかった
みんなが寄ってくるので、教授がハリーをひとり占めにはできなかった。
Everyone had gathered round, so the professor was unable to monopolise Harry.
I'm struggling with the grammar of the second clause here. The closest structure I can ...
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How to say "I wish I could do something"
ok, so once again anime got me thinking too hard about grammar.
Let's take the sentence "I wish I could move" it could (probably) be something like 動けるになりたい。
But I was wondering can we skip ...
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When do native speakers favour Vことができる rather than the potential form?
I have heard from some native speakers that for some verbs, it is more common to use the phrase Vことが出来る rather than the potential form in everyday speech. This arose after a discussion on verbs of the ...
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Why does 「割引がもらえる」 mean "able to receive the discount"? [duplicate]
Consider
この会社の社員だったら、あの大学で割引がもらえる。
I assume this means (in idiomatic English):
If I were an employee of this company, I could get a discount at that college.
But literally speaking, it seems to ...
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What does 楽しめてない mean?
What does 楽しめてない mean?
Context: 私クリスマスたのしめてない。
I know that 楽しめる means "to be able to enjoy", and it's negative form is 楽しめない. Where did that 「て」come from?
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Do the passive forms of godan verbs have any sense of potentiality?
According to this answer https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/60055/55243
both the passive and potential sense of ichidan verbs derive from the root sense of "without someone's will".
It ...
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Double 可能形? 話せるようになれるまで
日本人は完璧にきれいに話せるようにならないと、「会話が成り立たない」「恥ずかしい」と感じ、なかなか外国語で話しかけられない人が多いように思います。（英語もしかり）しかし完璧に話せるようになれるまで、じゃあどこでそれを練習するんですか？という話。(source)
要は、「あなたが英語が話せるようになれるまでの「エネルギーの源泉」が、あなたにあるかどうか？」が重要になってきます。(source)
...
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Potential form with を [duplicate]
My question is pretty straightforward (I think): I was reading a story from an app for learning Japanese and came across this phrase:
そしてその友達の輪を、どんどん世界中に広げられるといいですね
So far, I have only studied basic ...
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Meaning of 繋ぎ合う
I'm currently translating the Japanese versions of some Final Fantasy songs. I found the compound verb "繋ぎ合えた" in the song "Yakusoku no Basho" from FFXIII-2 as a relative clause, ...
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Causative use for the verb 習う (sense of achievement)
I learnt here that "the causative せる lends a sense of achievement or overcoming hardship to finish something".
My question is: is it common for Japanese students to use the causative form of ...
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Japanese intransitive verbs with potential meaning
I'm currently studying about the potential form of verbs, but what I'm curious about is the intranstive verbs with potential meaning. The blog I'm studying from had an example with the verb 見る:
"...
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気が合う人 is correct but why can't I say 気が合える人？ Why is using the potential form wrong?
One day a friend of mine told me my usage of 合える人 is grammatically incorrect but when I check on the internet, I see we can use the potential form with 合う.
I want to say that I can potentially get ...
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Which particle to use for potentials
So i notice は、が、を are used in this case.
For example:
英語が話せます
英語を話せます
英語は話せます
*I know my example might be wrong but im a beginner and absolutely clueless on this subject *
So how do we decide which ...
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Granting permission with the potential form
My previous question got me thinking about if/when the potential form or できる can be used to grant permission.
My doubts come about because I'm pretty sure that using the potential form/できる is never ...
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On the naturalness of a sentence, and whether だけまで or までだけ can be used
ふくろうのストレスにならないように、見たり写真を撮ったりするのは午後6時までにしています。 NHK
So as not to cause stress to the owls it has been decided that viewing and taking pictures will be until 6 o'clock.
Not even certain I've translated ...
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Why is 扱う in the potential form?
この本は日本語の文法の本です。
日本語というと、万葉集や源氏物語などの古代の言葉も、日本の各地で話されている方言も、みなすべて日本語ですが、この本で扱えるのは現代日本の東京の言葉だけです。
I'm reading the preface of an online book. Why is the word in bold in the potential? I assume it means ...
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Do all verbs become Ichidan once in their Potential Form?
Question again from 君の名は manga:
“夢だけでも、男の子になれたらなぁ”
I'm unsure about my understanding of the verb conjugation.. is this the potential form of なる plus the conditional form ~たら.. ? Checking the rules to ...
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Special status of 話せる as a verb
I came across 話せる, as the potential form of 話す. However, 話せる can also be found in dictionaries as a verb on its own. It can even take inflections, and has its own potential form, 話せられる! I don't really ...
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Parsing or meaning of 我らに戦えと
This is in a Manga where B is asked by A:
A: お前たち恵み多き地に住みたくないか?
B: それは… 我らに戦えと? かつてはそういった土地を手に入れるため戦{いくさ}に明け暮れましたが[...]
While I get the meaning of the rest, I don't know how to deal with 我らに戦えと, ...
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How does 「信じられている」 differ from 「信じている」 in this sentence?
仲睦まじい様子の男女二人連れと、幾度もすれちがう。この中で、どれほどの人たちが、いま一緒にいる相手のことを、この人しかいないと信じられているのだろうか。
This is a line from 「私の男」by 桜庭一樹著
When I searched for the translation online, I found this one
I wondered how many of ...
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Combining passive and potential form, natural?
これから一生妹さんに食われ続けられる？
I found this sentence in an anime and it raised some questions about combining the potential and passive form. The meaning here is literal, her sister is a monster and she needs ...
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Ambiguity between potential causative and passive causative
I have this thought from time to time when I am trying to express an English thought in Japanese. Perhaps the sentence itself is unnatural so let me know.
It seems like we can make him come (to a ...
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How does the に particle work here? (にでき） [duplicate]
愛にできること. I am so confused for the usage of the particle に here. This would translate to "things love can do", right? But I've always thought に marks the noun before it, and the action would ...
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Is 売られる the potential form of 売る?
I came across this sentence:
米はキロ単位で売られる。
The translation given was "Rice is sold by the kilogram." I assume that 売られる's meaning is more like "is sold" or "to be sold" ...
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Can a potential verb be used with ながら meaning during/while?
The following sentence was from a group chat, and I felt like the usage of ながら here was a bit odd:
歩きながらメッセージを送れない。
I can't send messages while I'm walking.
I felt it was odd as I always assumed ...
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Distinguishing polite form and potential form in speech
Not sure if this question is opinion based, but I think it's worth trying to ask.
Can native/fluent speakers easily distinguish the sound difference between the polite and potential forms of a verb in ...
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Potential form and ～限り
映画が好きなので、時間とお金が（ ）かぎり見に行っている。
I haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer as to why 許す in plain dictionary form works better here than 許せる, the potential form.
動詞につく場合は、ている形や可能動詞などにつくことが多い。
...
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僕が強くならなきゃ from 月の大きさ song [duplicate]
I believe that it means I have to become strong but I don't really know how the grammar works in the sentence. I know it's using 強い and I guess なる in potencial form
Pleas explain to me how this works
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Transitive, Intransitive and Potential Verbs
Do all tadoshi verbs have a jidoushi verb to pair with?
How do you differentiate volitional and non-volitional form verbs? Do we categorise them like we do for jidoshi (intransitive form) eg. Action ...
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~ていられる - present progressive and potential?
This a line from "good morning call"
その横で平気な顔していられるか？
Next to that can you wear a cool face ?
How would one explain ~て いる in its potential form ~て いられる ?
I understand it as "Next to ...
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には agent or object of the potential form?
This sentence is translated as: "In the end I could never beat him, not even once" by JTest4You
結局彼には、一度も勝てなかった
So the agent in I which is assumed here. But I was under the impression that ...
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Did the られる potential form come from 得る?
One of the shows I've been watching lately kept using some more classical forms of Japanese for style purposes, that I was not too familiar with ; this led me to notice how 得る{える} was often used as an ...
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Potential form of 言う - 言える - an ichidan verb?
The potential form of the godan verb [言]{い}う is [言]{い}える. I searched [言]{い}える in an online dictionary today, but it listed [言]{い}える, the potential form, as an ichidan verb.
It even gave a conjugation ...
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Does/Can the "standalone" 来る have a passive form in Japanese? [duplicate]
Due to my dictionary 来られる would be the passive as well as potential form.
Potential form is clear: 来られる? -> Can you come?
But I have great trouble imagining a sentence of 来られる in the passive ...
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The 「上がれる」 in this sentence
Taken from 「イエスタデイをうたって２」
Context: One guy wants to visit a female friend (who he barely knows) while she is sick. This is their conversation when he suddenly stops before entering her house:
「...
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