Questions tagged [potential-form]
可能形. The conjugated form that allows the verb to express ability.
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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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About the specific difference between 見えます and 見られます
I have a question about the specific usage of 見えます and 見られます.
As already explained on the net, 見えます is used when something is visible to the speaker or comes into view. 見られます is used instead, when ...
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Why is the potential form of 滑る 滑れる and not 滑られる？
For る-verbs we usually drop る and replace it with られる but I noticed this exception?
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Meaning of verb + つもりも + potential verb + 程
In a letter by a mangaka at the end of a manga, I encountered the following sentence:
〝正しいこと〟なんて描くつもりも描ける程、自分を上等とも思っていないけど〝つまらないこと〟だけはしないようにしていきたいなって思います
Is verb + つもりも + potential verb + 程 a ...
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What’s the difference between “書けるか” and “書けますか“?
What’s the difference between “書けるか“ and “書けますか” (Can you write?). I read the rule for the potential form, but then in an example it said ます on the end instead of る. So do both work and what’s the ...
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「から」 and the potential form in 「～ことから～言える」
The entire sentence was:
この種の文は、次に示すように、いくつかの属性を並立させて記述することができることからも記述文であると言える。
「～ことからも～言える」 here means something like "judging from this fact, it can be said that..." or "based on this fact, it ...
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Potential verbs with and without ようになる
According to http://www.guidetojapanese.org/surunaru.html:
Since potential verbs describe a state of feasibility rather than an
action [...] it is [sic] often used in conjunction with 「～ようになる」 to ...
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Can someone explain to me how "としまして" is formed?
Could someone help me by explaining how this is formed?
The question here refers to an answer to my question (second comment on answer), but I don't understand it:
Could someone help with the ...
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Potential forms of verbs that have gained a spontaneous meaning (e.g., 泣ける)
English
I was thinking about the word 泣ける and how it has a usage where it's not really a potential — in particular its usage where it gets used to mean something was moving and caused the speaker to ...
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Distinguish between homonyms & potential form
How can you distinguish two verbs when the dictionary form of one is exactly the same as the "potential" form of another. E.g:
開く [Godan verb with ku ending, intransitive verb] (Potential form: 開ける)...
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Meaning of もてり and use of が
白き布 もて盤上を 磨きたり 人は心に 鏡をもてり。
Is もてり 持てる？ If so, in that case why does a potential verb have the が particle?
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Difference between using ていない/ている and just ない/る when used with potential (られる) form
I was surfing online for Japanese articles and chanced upon this sentence:
初めて飛行機に乗ったうちの子どもは静かに座っていられませんでした
which translates to:
my child who sat on a plane for the first time, couldn't sit quietly.
...
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誰も + potential verb form
I'm pretty sure "誰にも読めない本" is correct. However, I have also heard something in the same vein as "誰も読めない本", without the に. Is this also correct?
If so, does も replace が here?
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が in the expression "耳が聞こえない"
I tried to translate this phrase literally and came up with "(My) ears can't hear". Since the expression means "(I'm) deaf", this makes sense.
However, I can't really get it to work grammatically, ...
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Combination of causative-passive and intransive verb with a direct object?
I am struggling to understand this sentence’s structure:
宿題を時間内に終わらせられなかった。
I think I get the idea of causative-passive as in “I was being made to finish the homework”. However, I noticed that we ...
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Why can には here ONLY mean にとっては?
日本人には________かもしれないが、私たち外国人にとっては、_________はとても大変なことです。
So I answered the first blank with 漢字が簡単に書ける and the second one with 漢字を書くの.
My Japanese teacher, who is a native, told me that it should be ...
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Why is this sentence using が here? [duplicate]
娘が一人で服が着られるようになった。
着る is supposed to take を but it's using が here. Why?
