Two questions about “can”











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If 食べれる means "can eat", 食べれます means the same but polite, and 食べれません means "can not eat" but in its polite form, how do I say "can not eat" in the nonpolite form?



Another little question: how can I say "can be". For example, "I can be that person".










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  • 2




    The "normal" polite can form is 食べられます . 食べれます is a ら抜き variant form.
    – virmaior
    Nov 3 at 14:11















up vote
3
down vote

favorite












If 食べれる means "can eat", 食べれます means the same but polite, and 食べれません means "can not eat" but in its polite form, how do I say "can not eat" in the nonpolite form?



Another little question: how can I say "can be". For example, "I can be that person".










share|improve this question




















  • 2




    The "normal" polite can form is 食べられます . 食べれます is a ら抜き variant form.
    – virmaior
    Nov 3 at 14:11













up vote
3
down vote

favorite









up vote
3
down vote

favorite











If 食べれる means "can eat", 食べれます means the same but polite, and 食べれません means "can not eat" but in its polite form, how do I say "can not eat" in the nonpolite form?



Another little question: how can I say "can be". For example, "I can be that person".










share|improve this question















If 食べれる means "can eat", 食べれます means the same but polite, and 食べれません means "can not eat" but in its polite form, how do I say "can not eat" in the nonpolite form?



Another little question: how can I say "can be". For example, "I can be that person".







conjugations potential






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share|improve this question













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edited Nov 3 at 14:41









Chocolate

43.9k455111




43.9k455111










asked Nov 3 at 13:26









Ryuzaki

584




584








  • 2




    The "normal" polite can form is 食べられます . 食べれます is a ら抜き variant form.
    – virmaior
    Nov 3 at 14:11














  • 2




    The "normal" polite can form is 食べられます . 食べれます is a ら抜き variant form.
    – virmaior
    Nov 3 at 14:11








2




2




The "normal" polite can form is 食べられます . 食べれます is a ら抜き variant form.
– virmaior
Nov 3 at 14:11




The "normal" polite can form is 食べられます . 食べれます is a ら抜き variant form.
– virmaior
Nov 3 at 14:11










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
10
down vote



accepted










First of all, it should be 食べられる rather than 食べれる, although the latter form is used. See this link.



Once you have conjugated a verb into the potential form it behaves just like any other iru-eru/group 1 (whatever you want to call it) verb.



As you probably already know, to make a group 1 verb negative you just remove る and replace it with ない. So we get 食べられない.



Furthermore, ない just behaves like an i-adjective so you can get the past tense exactly as you would expect: 食べられなかった. Conjugation in Japanese is really logical :-)



I'm not a native speaker, but I can't think of any way to turn 'to be' into potential form. My guess is that this isn't a natural thing to do. If had to say "I can be that person" I think would use なる (become) and say:
あの人になれます。






share|improve this answer























  • @Chocolate Thanks for correcting my stupid mistake.
    – user3856370
    Nov 3 at 14:26










  • I can think of other languages where “I can be that person” is either very odd-sounding or downright grammatically impossible as well; it does seem to be rather an unusual thing to need to express. If you really want to stress the possibility of your state of being as being equivalent to that person, I suppose you could perhaps say (私は)あの人であることができます, could you not? I suspect that too would sound rather odd to a native speaker, though.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 3 at 17:34












  • I know of a case where "なれる" (potential form of "なる") is used "you can be a hero" - namely, in My Hero Academia, a mentor character says "ヒーローになれる". So, it does seem to be an understandable usage. However, I would advise double-checking whether it sounds normal or not, because anime often have unusual or overly-dramatic dialogue (and the character who said it IS quite flowery with his speech).
    – Ethan Kaminski
    Nov 3 at 18:09










  • "なれる" is a common way of expressing being able to choose any particular type of job, in Japan. Pretty normal, not really "odd to hear".
    – ericfromabeno
    Nov 3 at 19:11










  • On the topic of られる potential form, that's only the case for when your language needs to be strictly textbook. In regular speech, you'll almost never hear someone conjugate with られる. It's always れる.
    – Omegastick
    2 days ago













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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
10
down vote



accepted










First of all, it should be 食べられる rather than 食べれる, although the latter form is used. See this link.



Once you have conjugated a verb into the potential form it behaves just like any other iru-eru/group 1 (whatever you want to call it) verb.



As you probably already know, to make a group 1 verb negative you just remove る and replace it with ない. So we get 食べられない.



Furthermore, ない just behaves like an i-adjective so you can get the past tense exactly as you would expect: 食べられなかった. Conjugation in Japanese is really logical :-)



I'm not a native speaker, but I can't think of any way to turn 'to be' into potential form. My guess is that this isn't a natural thing to do. If had to say "I can be that person" I think would use なる (become) and say:
あの人になれます。






share|improve this answer























  • @Chocolate Thanks for correcting my stupid mistake.
    – user3856370
    Nov 3 at 14:26










  • I can think of other languages where “I can be that person” is either very odd-sounding or downright grammatically impossible as well; it does seem to be rather an unusual thing to need to express. If you really want to stress the possibility of your state of being as being equivalent to that person, I suppose you could perhaps say (私は)あの人であることができます, could you not? I suspect that too would sound rather odd to a native speaker, though.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 3 at 17:34












  • I know of a case where "なれる" (potential form of "なる") is used "you can be a hero" - namely, in My Hero Academia, a mentor character says "ヒーローになれる". So, it does seem to be an understandable usage. However, I would advise double-checking whether it sounds normal or not, because anime often have unusual or overly-dramatic dialogue (and the character who said it IS quite flowery with his speech).
    – Ethan Kaminski
    Nov 3 at 18:09










  • "なれる" is a common way of expressing being able to choose any particular type of job, in Japan. Pretty normal, not really "odd to hear".
    – ericfromabeno
    Nov 3 at 19:11










  • On the topic of られる potential form, that's only the case for when your language needs to be strictly textbook. In regular speech, you'll almost never hear someone conjugate with られる. It's always れる.
    – Omegastick
    2 days ago

















up vote
10
down vote



accepted










First of all, it should be 食べられる rather than 食べれる, although the latter form is used. See this link.



Once you have conjugated a verb into the potential form it behaves just like any other iru-eru/group 1 (whatever you want to call it) verb.



As you probably already know, to make a group 1 verb negative you just remove る and replace it with ない. So we get 食べられない.



Furthermore, ない just behaves like an i-adjective so you can get the past tense exactly as you would expect: 食べられなかった. Conjugation in Japanese is really logical :-)



I'm not a native speaker, but I can't think of any way to turn 'to be' into potential form. My guess is that this isn't a natural thing to do. If had to say "I can be that person" I think would use なる (become) and say:
あの人になれます。






share|improve this answer























  • @Chocolate Thanks for correcting my stupid mistake.
    – user3856370
    Nov 3 at 14:26










  • I can think of other languages where “I can be that person” is either very odd-sounding or downright grammatically impossible as well; it does seem to be rather an unusual thing to need to express. If you really want to stress the possibility of your state of being as being equivalent to that person, I suppose you could perhaps say (私は)あの人であることができます, could you not? I suspect that too would sound rather odd to a native speaker, though.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 3 at 17:34












  • I know of a case where "なれる" (potential form of "なる") is used "you can be a hero" - namely, in My Hero Academia, a mentor character says "ヒーローになれる". So, it does seem to be an understandable usage. However, I would advise double-checking whether it sounds normal or not, because anime often have unusual or overly-dramatic dialogue (and the character who said it IS quite flowery with his speech).
    – Ethan Kaminski
    Nov 3 at 18:09










  • "なれる" is a common way of expressing being able to choose any particular type of job, in Japan. Pretty normal, not really "odd to hear".
    – ericfromabeno
    Nov 3 at 19:11










  • On the topic of られる potential form, that's only the case for when your language needs to be strictly textbook. In regular speech, you'll almost never hear someone conjugate with られる. It's always れる.
    – Omegastick
    2 days ago















up vote
10
down vote



accepted







up vote
10
down vote



accepted






First of all, it should be 食べられる rather than 食べれる, although the latter form is used. See this link.



Once you have conjugated a verb into the potential form it behaves just like any other iru-eru/group 1 (whatever you want to call it) verb.



As you probably already know, to make a group 1 verb negative you just remove る and replace it with ない. So we get 食べられない.



Furthermore, ない just behaves like an i-adjective so you can get the past tense exactly as you would expect: 食べられなかった. Conjugation in Japanese is really logical :-)



I'm not a native speaker, but I can't think of any way to turn 'to be' into potential form. My guess is that this isn't a natural thing to do. If had to say "I can be that person" I think would use なる (become) and say:
あの人になれます。






share|improve this answer














First of all, it should be 食べられる rather than 食べれる, although the latter form is used. See this link.



Once you have conjugated a verb into the potential form it behaves just like any other iru-eru/group 1 (whatever you want to call it) verb.



As you probably already know, to make a group 1 verb negative you just remove る and replace it with ない. So we get 食べられない.



Furthermore, ない just behaves like an i-adjective so you can get the past tense exactly as you would expect: 食べられなかった. Conjugation in Japanese is really logical :-)



I'm not a native speaker, but I can't think of any way to turn 'to be' into potential form. My guess is that this isn't a natural thing to do. If had to say "I can be that person" I think would use なる (become) and say:
あの人になれます。







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Nov 3 at 14:23









Chocolate

43.9k455111




43.9k455111










answered Nov 3 at 14:15









user3856370

12.1k51657




12.1k51657












  • @Chocolate Thanks for correcting my stupid mistake.
    – user3856370
    Nov 3 at 14:26










  • I can think of other languages where “I can be that person” is either very odd-sounding or downright grammatically impossible as well; it does seem to be rather an unusual thing to need to express. If you really want to stress the possibility of your state of being as being equivalent to that person, I suppose you could perhaps say (私は)あの人であることができます, could you not? I suspect that too would sound rather odd to a native speaker, though.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 3 at 17:34












  • I know of a case where "なれる" (potential form of "なる") is used "you can be a hero" - namely, in My Hero Academia, a mentor character says "ヒーローになれる". So, it does seem to be an understandable usage. However, I would advise double-checking whether it sounds normal or not, because anime often have unusual or overly-dramatic dialogue (and the character who said it IS quite flowery with his speech).
    – Ethan Kaminski
    Nov 3 at 18:09










  • "なれる" is a common way of expressing being able to choose any particular type of job, in Japan. Pretty normal, not really "odd to hear".
    – ericfromabeno
    Nov 3 at 19:11










  • On the topic of られる potential form, that's only the case for when your language needs to be strictly textbook. In regular speech, you'll almost never hear someone conjugate with られる. It's always れる.
    – Omegastick
    2 days ago




















  • @Chocolate Thanks for correcting my stupid mistake.
    – user3856370
    Nov 3 at 14:26










  • I can think of other languages where “I can be that person” is either very odd-sounding or downright grammatically impossible as well; it does seem to be rather an unusual thing to need to express. If you really want to stress the possibility of your state of being as being equivalent to that person, I suppose you could perhaps say (私は)あの人であることができます, could you not? I suspect that too would sound rather odd to a native speaker, though.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 3 at 17:34












  • I know of a case where "なれる" (potential form of "なる") is used "you can be a hero" - namely, in My Hero Academia, a mentor character says "ヒーローになれる". So, it does seem to be an understandable usage. However, I would advise double-checking whether it sounds normal or not, because anime often have unusual or overly-dramatic dialogue (and the character who said it IS quite flowery with his speech).
    – Ethan Kaminski
    Nov 3 at 18:09










  • "なれる" is a common way of expressing being able to choose any particular type of job, in Japan. Pretty normal, not really "odd to hear".
    – ericfromabeno
    Nov 3 at 19:11










  • On the topic of られる potential form, that's only the case for when your language needs to be strictly textbook. In regular speech, you'll almost never hear someone conjugate with られる. It's always れる.
    – Omegastick
    2 days ago


















@Chocolate Thanks for correcting my stupid mistake.
– user3856370
Nov 3 at 14:26




@Chocolate Thanks for correcting my stupid mistake.
– user3856370
Nov 3 at 14:26












I can think of other languages where “I can be that person” is either very odd-sounding or downright grammatically impossible as well; it does seem to be rather an unusual thing to need to express. If you really want to stress the possibility of your state of being as being equivalent to that person, I suppose you could perhaps say (私は)あの人であることができます, could you not? I suspect that too would sound rather odd to a native speaker, though.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 3 at 17:34






I can think of other languages where “I can be that person” is either very odd-sounding or downright grammatically impossible as well; it does seem to be rather an unusual thing to need to express. If you really want to stress the possibility of your state of being as being equivalent to that person, I suppose you could perhaps say (私は)あの人であることができます, could you not? I suspect that too would sound rather odd to a native speaker, though.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Nov 3 at 17:34














I know of a case where "なれる" (potential form of "なる") is used "you can be a hero" - namely, in My Hero Academia, a mentor character says "ヒーローになれる". So, it does seem to be an understandable usage. However, I would advise double-checking whether it sounds normal or not, because anime often have unusual or overly-dramatic dialogue (and the character who said it IS quite flowery with his speech).
– Ethan Kaminski
Nov 3 at 18:09




I know of a case where "なれる" (potential form of "なる") is used "you can be a hero" - namely, in My Hero Academia, a mentor character says "ヒーローになれる". So, it does seem to be an understandable usage. However, I would advise double-checking whether it sounds normal or not, because anime often have unusual or overly-dramatic dialogue (and the character who said it IS quite flowery with his speech).
– Ethan Kaminski
Nov 3 at 18:09












"なれる" is a common way of expressing being able to choose any particular type of job, in Japan. Pretty normal, not really "odd to hear".
– ericfromabeno
Nov 3 at 19:11




"なれる" is a common way of expressing being able to choose any particular type of job, in Japan. Pretty normal, not really "odd to hear".
– ericfromabeno
Nov 3 at 19:11












On the topic of られる potential form, that's only the case for when your language needs to be strictly textbook. In regular speech, you'll almost never hear someone conjugate with られる. It's always れる.
– Omegastick
2 days ago






On the topic of られる potential form, that's only the case for when your language needs to be strictly textbook. In regular speech, you'll almost never hear someone conjugate with られる. It's always れる.
– Omegastick
2 days ago




















 

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