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Important Forms
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Lesson 8: Potential Form
In this lesson，I will teach you how to convert Japanese verbs to Potential Form.
How to convert Japanese Verbs to Potential Form?
| Verb Type | How to convert? |
| Type-1 Verb | change the u-hiragana to e-hiragana and add る in the end，for example，会う→会える |
| Type-2 Verb | change the る in the end to られる ，for example，食べる→食べられる |
| Type-3 Verb | change the する in the end to できる ，for example， 勉強する→勉強できる |
| Irregular Verbs | 来る→来られる する→できる |
Examples:
| Example | Reading | Potential Form |
|---|---|---|
| 会う | あう | 会える |
| 行く | いく | 行ける |
| 嗅ぐ | かぐ | 嗅げる |
| 押す | おす | 押せる |
| 打つ | うつ | 打てる |
| 死ぬ | しぬ | 死ねる |
| 呼ぶ | よぶ | 呼べる |
| 飲む | のむ | 飲める |
| やる | やる | やれる |
| 食べる | たべる | 食べられる |
| 勉強する | べんきょうする | 勉強できる |
| する | する | できる |
| 来る | くる | 来（こ）られる |
Other Forms of Potential Form:
| Polite Form of Potential Form: 会えます、食べられます、勉強できます Past Tense Form of Potential Form: 会えた、食べられた、勉強できた Negative Form of Potential Form: 会えない、食べられない、勉強できない Te Form of Potential Form: 会えて、食べられて、勉強できて Polite Negative Form of Potential Form: 会えません、食べられません、勉強できません Negative Past Tense Form of Potential Form: 会えなかった、食べられなかった、勉強できなかった Polite Negative Past Tense Form of Potential Form: 会えませんでした、食べられませんでした、勉強できませんでした |
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| As for other forms of Potential Form, they are just combined the knowledge you have learned before, I think it’s not necessary to provide quizzes for all other forms. |
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22 thoughts on “Lesson 8: Potential Form”
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When do you use potential form? Like, in which context?
Like you want to express: I can do…
Like I can speak Japanese. 私は日本語が話せる。
Is there any subtle difference between potential form and ～ことができる? For example is one more formal than the other, and are there any situation where one is preferred over another? Thank you 🙂
potential form: often used between friends.
～ことができる:often used in business. or used in written Japanese.
How is the form used and how does it change the context of a sentence? Can you provide me some sample sentences of it being used?
辛（から）いものが食（た）べられますか。
Can you eat spicy food?
It’s like asking the ability of a person, whether they can do it or not?
Can I use in objects also, like “Can the machine perform well?”
How would you conjugate the Potential form to the past tense?
Just change the る in the end to た.
Hello,
Are these sentences correct?
彼女は泳げます。彼は死ねない。
Yes! It’s correct!
Thanks!
How about when writing, let’s say writing on a diary or essay..should I use ~ことができる? Is there a polite form of that? Or can I use the exact one? Because someone told me I should always use polite form not casual. Thank you :))
You can use ～ことができます
Potential negative? Do I just change to e-hiragana + ない？like 歩けない？
Yes!
Is there a past form for this or it’s a complete different form?
if it exists how to you express a negative form/past form/negative past form?
Added!
is there a polite past affirmative form?
yes
How do you use the Te-form of the potential form of verb? Can you give an example? Thank you!
まだできていない