Japanese Potential Form (可能刑) ~eru,~koto ga dekiru (~える,~ことができる)

おはようございます、ohayou gozaimasu, good morning learners^^, today we are gonna learn Japanese Potential Form using dekiru (できる) or Potential Verb Conjugation (可能刑), yeah in Japanese there are two ways to express the ability to do something, let's start with the first one.

Express the ability to do something using dekiru (できる)

To express the ability to do something using できる, For noun, just add が particle and できる、and for verb add ことができる.

Formula:
noun + ga + dekiru
verb + koto + ga + dekiru

私は日本語ができる
watashi wa nihongo ga dekiru
I can (speak) Japanese
日本語が出来ますか
nihongo ga dekimasu ka
do you can (speak) Japanese
私はサッカーが出来ます
watashi wa sakkaa ga dekimasu
I can play football
私は泳ぐことが出来ます
watashi wa oyogu koto ga dekimasu
I can swim
漢字が詠むことが出来ますか
kanji ga yomu koto ga dekimasu ka
do you can read Kanji

Potential Form Conjugation (可能形)

And the second way, you can use the potential verb to express the ability to do something. To conjugate a verb into potential form:

Group 1: Change the u-vowel at the end of the verb become e-vowel and the add る. Example:

話す　−　話せる
hanasu - hanaseru
speak - can speak
買う　−　買える
kau - kaeru
buy - can buy
勝つ　−　勝てる
katsu - kateru
win - can win
泳ぐ　−　泳げる
oyogu - oyogeru
swim - can swim
飲む　−　飲める
nomu - nomeru
drink - can drink

Group 2: Just drop the ending る and then attach られる. Example:

食べる　−　食べられる
taberu − taberareru
eat − can eat
見る　−　見られる
miru − mirareru
see − can see
変える　−　変えられる
kaeru − kaerareru
change − can change
着る　−　着られる
kiru − kirareru
wear − can wear

Group 3: There are two verbs in this group. See the below:

する　−　できる
suru − dekiru
do − can
来る　−　来られる
kuru − korareru
come − can come

All potential verb will become group 2 verbs and the conjugation will be the same with group 2 verbs, the table below is the conjugations of Potential form verbs:

POTENTIAL FORM CONJUGATION
affirmative	negative	past tense	negative past tense
potential form group 1 (godan doushi)
hanaseru	hanasenai	hanaseta	hanasenakatta
kaeru	kaenai	kaeta	kaenakatta
kateru	katenai	kateta	katenakatta
yoberu	yobenai	yobeta	yobenakatta
potential form group 2 (ichidan doushi)
taberareru	taberarenai	taberareta	taberarenakatta
mirareru	mirarenai	mirareta	mirarenakatta
potential form group 3 (fukisoku doushi)
dekiru	dekinai	dekita	dekinakatta
korareru	korarenai	korareta	korarenakatta
polite potential form
katemasu	katemasen	katemashita	katemasen deshita
miraremasu	miraremasen	miraremashita	miraremasen deshita
koraremasu	koraremasen	koraremashita	koraremasen deshita

In potential form, you cannot use を particle, but you will use が particle, see the example below:

ここで写真が撮れる
koko de shashin ga toreru
I can take a photo here
兄は日本語が話せます
ani wa nihongo de hanasemasu
my brother can speak Japanese
漢字が読めない
kanji ga yomenai
I cannot read Kanji
あの時、私はひらがなが読めませんでした
ani toki, watashi wa hiragana ga yomemasen deshita
I could not read Hiragana at that time

And sometimes Japanese people often just say れる instead of られる for group 2 rule, example:

寿司が食べれる
sushi ga taberareu
I can eat sushi
富士山が見れない
fujisan ga mirenai
I can see Fuji mountain

Ok, that was the potential form in Japanese language, I hope you understood and enjoyed the lesson^^, Well, I will see you soon in the next lesson, till then guys take care, jaa, minna mata aou ne^^)/.

Posted by Riizhu

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