Minna No Nihongo Grammar Lesson 27

Minna No Nihongo Grammar Lesson 27

1. Potential verbs

		Potential verbs
		polite form	plain form
I	かきます かいます	かけます かえます	かける かえる
II	たべます	たべられます	たべられる
III	きます します	こられます できます	こられる できる

 

All potential verbs are Group II verbs; they conjugate into the dictionary form, ない-form, て-form, etc.

eg. かける、かけ（ない）、かけて

わかる, which includes the meaning of possibility itself, does not change into わかれる.

2. Potential verb sentences

1) Potential verbs express not actions but states. The object of transitive verbs are indicated by the particle を. When they become potential verbs, however, their objects are usually indicated by the particle が.

わたしは日本語を話します。

I speak Japanese.

わたしは日本語が話せます。

I can speak Japanese.

No particles change except for を.

一人で病院へ行けますか。

Can you go to the hospital alone?

田中さんに会えませんでした。

I could not see Mr. Tanaka.

2) Potential verbs have two uses: to express a person’s ability to do something and to express the possibility of an action in a certain situation.

ミラーさんは漢字が読めます。

Mr. Miller can read Kanji.

この銀行でドルが換えられます。

You can change dollars at this bank.

3. 見えます and 聞こえます.

The potential verb forみます is みられますand that forききます isきけます. They indicate that one’s intention of seeing or listening can be realized. みえますindicates that a certain object comes into one’s sight and きこえますthat a sound reaches one’s ears independent of one’s will. In sentences using みえますandきこえます , objects to be seen or heard become the objects of the sentence and are indicated by が.

新宿でいま黒沢の映画が見られます。

You can now see Kurosawa’s movies in Shinjuku.

新幹線から富士山が見えます。

Mt. Fuji can be seen from the Shinkansen.

電話で天気予報が聞けます。

You can hear the weather forecast by phone.

ラジオの音がが聞こえます。

The sound of a radio can be heard.

4. できます

The verb that you learn here means “come into being”, ‘come up”, “be completed”, “be finished”, “be made”, etc.

駅の前に大きいスーパーができました。

A big supermarket has been completed in front of the station.

時計の修理はいつできますか。

When can you fix this watch?

5. は

1) では／には／へは／からは／までは、etc.

はis used to highlight a noun as a topic, and as you learned in Lesson 10, 17 and 26, when がorを follows the noun, it is replaced byは . When other particles (e.g.で、に、へ、 etc.) follow the noun, はis placed after them.

わたしの学校にはアメリカ人の先生がいます。

In my school there is an American teacher.

わたしの学校では中国語が習えます。

In my school we can learn the Chinese language.

2) はused to make contrasts

きのうは山が見えましたが、きょうは見えません。

Yesterday we could see mountains, but not today.

ワインは飲みますが、ビールは飲みません。

I drink wine, but not beer.

京都へは行きますが、大阪へは行きません。

I will go to Tokyo, but not to Osaka.

6.も

Like the usage ofは explained above, もreplaces をor が, but follows other particles. In the case of the particleへ , however, it can be omitted.

クララさんは英語が話せます。フランス語も話せます。

Klara can speak English. She can speak French, too.

去年アメリカへ行きました。メキシコ[へ]も行きました。

I went to America last year. I went to Mexico, too.

わたしの部屋から海が見えます。弟の部屋からも見えます。

The sea can be seen from my room, and also from my brother’s room.

7. しか

しかis attached to nouns, quantifiers, etc., and is always used with negative predicates. It highlights the words, makes limitations and negates everything except the thing expressed by the word. It replacesが orを, but follows other particles. しかhas a negative nuance, while だけhas a positive one.

ローマ字しか書けません。

I cannot write anything but Roman letters.

ローマ字だけ書けます。

I can only write Roman letters.

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Minna No Nihongo Grammar Lesson 28
Minna No Nihongo Lesson 27 Vocabulary