Learn about conjugating the potential forms of verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: 直美です。 (Naomidesu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. What’s Your Japanese Potential? In this lesson, you learn how to say you cannot do something. |
| Naomi: Such as もう、食べられない。 (Mō, taberarenai.) |
| Peter: I can’t eat anymore. This conversation takes place at |
| Naomi: レストランです。 (Resutorandesu.) |
| Peter: A restaurant. The conversation is between |
| Naomi: 下山新さんと上司。 (Shimoyama Shin-san to jōshi.) |
| Peter: Mr. Shin Shimoyama and his boss. They are having lunch together. |
| Naomi: そうですね。お昼ごはんを食べています。 (Sōdesu ne. Ohiru gohan o tabete imasu.) |
| Peter: The boss uses informal Japanese. Mr. Shimoyama uses |
| Naomi: Formal Japanese. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 上司 (Jōshi): ふー、食べた食べた。もう、食べられない。 (Fū, tabeta tabeta. Mō, taberarenai.) |
| 下山 (Gezan): ですよね。僕ももう、食べれません。 (Desu yo ne. Boku mo mō, taberemasen.) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): 下山君、出身は?東京? (Shimoyama-kun, shusshin wa? Tōkyō?) |
| 下山 (Gezan): ええ。東京の足立区で生まれましたが、父の仕事で色々な国に住みました。 (Ee. Tōkyō no Adachi-ku de umaremashita ga, chichi no shigoto de iroiro na kuni ni sumimashita.) シンガポール、南アフリカ、ロシア、ポルトガル、チリ・・・ (Shingapōru, minami Afurika, Roshia, Porutogaru, Chiri…) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): へぇー。すごいなぁ。じゃ、外国語がペラペラ話せる? (Heē. Sugoi nā. Ja, gaikokugo ga perapera hanaseru?) |
| 下山 (Gezan): 子供の時、ペラペラでした。 (Kodomo no toki, perapera deshita.) でも、今は全然話せません。(笑) (Demo, ima wa zenzen hanasemasen.) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): ご兄弟は? (Go-kyōdai wa?) |
| 下山 (Gezan): 双子の兄がいました。 (Futago no ani ga imashita.) 5歳の時、病気で死にました。 (Go-sai no toki, byōki de shinimashita.) |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Kondo wa, yukkuri onegaishimasu.) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): ふー、食べた食べた。もう、食べられない。 (Fū, tabeta tabeta. Mō, taberarenai.) |
| 下山 (Gezan): ですよね。僕ももう、食べれません。 (Desu yo ne. Boku mo mō, taberemasen.) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): 下山君、出身は?東京? (Shimoyama-kun, shusshin wa? Tōkyō?) |
| 下山 (Gezan): ええ。東京の足立区で生まれましたが、父の仕事で色々な国に住みました。 (Ee. Tōkyō no Adachi-ku de umaremashita ga, chichi no shigoto de iroiro na kuni ni sumimashita.) シンガポール、南アフリカ、ロシア、ポルトガル、チリ・・・ (Shingapōru, minami Afurika, Roshia, Porutogaru, Chiri…) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): へぇー。すごいなぁ。じゃ、外国語がペラペラ話せる? (Heē. Sugoi nā. Ja, gaikokugo ga perapera hanaseru?) |
| 下山 (Gezan): 子供の時、ペラペラでした。 (Kodomo no toki, perapera deshita.) でも、今は全然話せません。(笑) (Demo, ima wa zenzen hanasemasen.) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): ご兄弟は? (Go-kyōdai wa?) |
| 下山 (Gezan): 双子の兄がいました。 (Futago no ani ga imashita.) 5歳の時、病気で死にました。 (Go-sai no toki, byōki de shinimashita.) |
| 今度は、英語が入ります。 (Kondo wa, eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 上司 (Jōshi): ふー、食べた食べた。もう、食べられない。 (Fū, tabeta tabeta. Mō, taberarenai.) |
| SUPERIOR : Phew, we ate it all. I can't eat another bite. |
| 下山 (Gezan): ですよね。僕ももう、食べれません。 (Desu yo ne. Boku mo mō, taberemasen.) |
| SHIMOYAMA : You said it. I'm stuffed, too. |
| 上司 (Jōshi): 下山君、出身は?東京? (Shimoyama-kun, shusshin wa? Tōkyō?) |
| SUPERIOR : Shimoyama, where are you from? Tokyo? |
| 下山 (Gezan): ええ。東京の足立区で生まれましたが、父の仕事で色々な国に住みました。 (Ee. Tōkyō no Adachi-ku de umaremashita ga, chichi no shigoto de iroiro na kuni ni sumimashita.) |
| SHIMOYAMA : Yes. I was born in Tokyo's Adachi ward, but I've lived in a lot of countries because of my father's job. |
| シンガポール、南アフリカ、ロシア、ポルトガル、チリ・・・ (Shingapōru, minami Afurika, Roshia, Porutogaru, Chiri…) |
| Singapore, South Africa, Russia, Portugal, Chile... |
| 上司 (Jōshi): へぇー。すごいなぁ。じゃ、外国語がペラペラ話せる? (Heē. Sugoi nā. Ja, gaikokugo ga perapera hanaseru?) |
| SUPERIOR : Wow, that's amazing. So, you can speak foreign languages fluently? |
| 下山 (Gezan): 子供の時、ペラペラでした。 (Kodomo no toki, perapera deshita.) でも、今は全然話せません。(笑) (Demo, ima wa zenzen hanasemasen.) |
| SHIMOYAMA : I could when I was a child, but not anymore. Haha! |
| 上司 (Jōshi): ご兄弟は? (Go-kyōdai wa?) |
| SUPERIOR : Do you have any siblings? |
| 下山 (Gezan): 双子の兄がいました。 (Futago no ani ga imashita.) 5歳の時、病気で死にました。 (Go-sai no toki, byōki de shinimashita.) |
| SHIMOYAMA : I did have a twin brother, but he got sick and died when I was five. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: 東京の足立区？ (Tōkyō no tatagu?) Is it Haruya another hero on this episode also from 足立区 (Tatagu) in Tokyo? |
| Naomi: ああ、いいポイントですね。そうなんです。大空晴夜さんの出身も東京都足立区なんです。で、下山さんも東京都足立区なんですね。 (Ā, ī pointodesu ne. Sōna ndesu. Ōzora seiya-san no shusshin mo tōkyōtoadachikuna ndesu. De, Shimoyama-san mo tōkyōtoadachikuna ndesu ne.) |
| Peter: でも下山さんのほうが頭がいいですね。 (Demo Shimoyama-san no hō ga atamagaīdesu ne.) But Mr. Shimoyama is smarter right? |
| Naomi: ああ、まあそうですね。まあ晴夜さんはいい人ですけどね。で、大空晴夜さんと下山新さんはそっくりなんですね。 (Ā, mā sōdesu ne. Mā seiya-san wa ī hitodesukedo ne. De, ōzora seiya-san to Shimoyama Shin-san wa sokkurina ndesu ne.) |
| Peter: So Haruya and Mr. Shimoyama are identical. |
| Naomi: そうですね。似てるみたいですよ。あと、下山さんはお父さんの仕事で色々な国に住みましたって言ってましたね。 (Sōdesu ne. Ni teru mitaidesu yo. Ato, Shimoyama-san wa otōsan no shigoto de iroirona kuni ni sumimashitatte ittemashita ne.) |
| Peter: So Mr. Shimoyama said, he lived in many countries because of his father’s work. |
| Naomi: そう。いいですよね。 (Sō. Īdesu yo ne.) I wish my father was like that. |
| Peter: Again what one should pick up here is 仕事で (Shigoto de) |
| Naomi: Ah! |
| Peter: It’s kind of translated on work but here it’s because of work. |
| Naomi: そうね。 (Sō ne.) Because of work. |
| Peter: So related to his father’s work, he lived in many different countries. So why are you here? 仕事で。 (Shigoto de.) |
| Naomi: そうそうそうそうそう。 (Sō sō sō sō sō.) |
| Peter: Here on business. |
| Naomi: そうです。 (Sōdesu.) |
| Peter: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: What do we have first? |
| Naomi: 色々 (iroiro) |
| Peter: Various. |
| Naomi: (slow)いろいろ (Iroiro) (natural speed) 色々 (iroiro) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 外国語 (gaigokugo) |
| Peter: Foreign language. |
| Naomi: (slow)がいこくご (Gaikoku-go) (natural speed) 外国語 (gaigokugo) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 全然 (zenzen) |
| Peter: Not at all. |
| Naomi: (slow)ぜんぜん (Zenzen) (natural speed) 全然 (zenzen) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 病気 (byōki) |
| Peter: Sickness, illness. |
| Naomi: (slow)びょうき (Byōki) (natural speed) 病気 (byōki) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 死ぬ (Shinu) |
| Peter: To die. |
| Naomi: (slow)しぬ (Shinu) (natural speed) 死ぬ (Shinu) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Now let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Naomi sensei, what’s the first word we will look at? |
| Naomi: 死ぬ (Shinu) |
| Peter: To die. |
| Naomi: This is similar word which is 亡くなる (Nakunaru) |
| Peter: Umm 死ぬと亡くなるは一緒ですか？ (Shinu to nakunaru wa isshodesu ka?) So is 死ぬ (Shinu) to die and 亡くなる (Nakunaru) to become nothing kind of a literal translation here. Are they the same? |
| Naomi: うーん。亡くなる (U ̄n. Nakunaru) is a euphemism for 死ぬ (Shinu) but you cannot use 亡くなる (Nakunaru) for animals. |
| Peter: I think a pretty good translation for this would be to pass away. |
| Naomi: そう。 (Sō.) to pass away ていう感じだと思います。 (Te iu kanjida to omoimasu.) |
| Peter: So now animal lovers out there, please don’t get angry but similar to English, I don’t think you would say my animal passed away. |
| Naomi: Same in Japanese, you cannot probably say 犬が亡くなりました。 (Inu ga nakunarimashita.) |
| Peter: Although I don’t know in the 21st century, probably people do use it. |
| Naomi: そうかもね。 (Sō kamo ne.) |
| Peter: 想像できるでしょ。 (Sōzō dekirudesho.) Like I can imagine it but it’s very similar to that kind of expression in English to pass away and to die. Naomi sensei, jumping back to the example you gave, you wouldn’t say 犬が亡くなりました。 (Inu ga nakunarimashita.) my dog passed away but rather 犬が (Inu ga) |
| Naomi: 死にました (Shinimashita) |
| Peter: So my dog died. Now if you want to add the cause, you use the particle |
| Naomi: で (De) |
| Peter: As in the dialogue. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) |
| Peter: Not that we used it in this context as someone passed away but で (De) as the reason. In the dialogue, we had the reason for him living overseas was his father’s work. Here we will use で (De) to mark the reason the cause of death. |
| Naomi: 病気で犬が死にました。 (Byōki de inu ga shinimashita.) |
| Peter: My dog died from illness. |
| Naomi: 事故で犬が死にました。 (Jiko de inu ga shinimashita.) |
| Peter: My dog died from the traffic accident. So in Japanese で (De) the particle で (De) is used in many situations here marking the reason. Notice how the English translation often changes. We had on business 仕事で, (Shigoto de,) from illness 病気で (Byōki de). The English particle changes but the Japanese particle is the same and again explaining the reason. The next word is |
| Naomi: 時 (Toki) |
| Peter: When or at the time when. Now in the dialogue we had noun plus the particle の (No) and 時 (Toki) |
| Naomi: For example 子供の時 (Kodomo no toki) |
| Peter: In one’s childhood, when one was a child. |
| Naomi: 5歳の時 (5-Sai no toki) |
| Peter: When someone was 5. Now Naomi sensei, how would you say when I was a student? |
| Naomi: Student in Japanese is 学生 (Gakusei) So |
| Peter: 学生の時 (Gakusei no toki) |
| Naomi: そうですね。よくできました。 (Sōdesu ne. Yoku dekimashita.) |
| Peter: ありがとうございます。 (Arigatōgozaimasu.) Like a student. 今学生みたい。 (Ima gakusei mitai.) So you take the noun followed by the particle の (No) and follow it with |
| Naomi: 時 (Toki) |
| Peter: 学生の時。(Gakusei no toki.) When I was a student. |
| Naomi: 悪い子でした。とかね。 (Warui kodeshita. Toka ne.) |
| Peter: You were bad when you were a student. On to the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: In this lesson, we are going to learn how to say I cannot do something. Now in the previous two lessons, we learned how to make the potential form of class 1, 2 and 3 verbs. Now when we change a verb to its potential form, it becomes a class 2 verb and then we can conjugate accordingly. Now this may sound a little complicated but we are going to break it all down right now. So Naomi Sensei, can we first have an example from the dialogue? |
| Naomi: 全然話せません。 (Zenzen hanasemasen.) |
| Peter: I can’t speak it all. Now can you put the subject and object in the sentence and say the sentence again? |
| Naomi: はい。私は全然外国語が話せません。 (Hai. Watashi wa zenzen gaikoku-go ga hanasemasen.) |
| Peter: I cannot speak foreign languages at all. So 話せません (Hanasemasen) is |
| Naomi: Cannot speak. |
| Peter: Now let’s explain how 話せません (Hanasemasen) is conjugated. Naomi Sensei, what is the verb to speak or to talk? |
| Naomi: 話す (Hanasu) |
| Peter: So we start out with the verb 話す (Hanasu) which is the class 1 verb. Now the potential form is |
| Naomi: 話せる (Hanaseru) |
| Peter: す (Su) becomes |
| Naomi: せる (Seru) |
| Peter: Now the informal negative form or the ない (Nai) form is |
| Naomi: 話せない (Hanasenai) |
| Peter: Cannot speak. So you can get the negative form of the potential form of a verb by replacing the final る (Ru) with |
| Naomi: ない (Nai) |
| Peter: Just like other class 2 verbs. So let’s just reinforce this with a few examples. So 話せる (Hanaseru) can speak becomes |
| Naomi: 話せない (Hanasenai) |
| Peter: Cannot speak. |
| Naomi: 食べられる (Taberareru) |
| Peter: Can eat becomes. |
| Naomi: 食べられない (Taberarenai) |
| Peter: Cannot eat. |
| Naomi: できる (Dekiru) |
| Peter: Can do becomes |
| Naomi: できない (Dekinai) |
| Peter: Cannot do. |
| Naomi: 止められる (Yamerareru) |
| Peter: Can quit becomes. |
| Naomi: 止められない (Yamerarenai) |
| Peter: Cannot quit. |
| Naomi: 私はタバコを吸いません。お酒も飲みません。 (Watashi wa tabako o suimasen. O sake mo nomimasen.) |
| Peter: え、本当ですか。 (E, hontōdesuka.) You don’t smoke I know but you don’t drink? |
| Naomi: Just a little bit. ちょっとだけね。(Chotto dake ne.) でも、私は甘いものが止められないですね。 (Demo, watashi wa amai mono ga tome rarenaidesu ne.) |
| Peter: So Naomi Sensei said, she doesn’t smoke, she doesn’t drink but she can’t give up sweets. |
| Naomi: そう。ピーターは？ (Sō. Pītā wa?) |
| Peter: あの、私は仕事が止められません。 (Ano, watashi wa shigoto ga tome raremasen.) |
| Naomi: 仕事ね。ちょっと中毒ですからね。 (Shigoto ne. Chotto chūdokudesukara ne.) You are a workaholic. |
| Peter: Yes I can’t stop working. |
| Naomi: 皆さんは何が止められませんか。教えてください。 (Minasan wa nani ga tome raremasen ka. Oshietekudasai.) |
| Peter: So please share with us something that you can’t give up. |
| Naomi: Hopefully your answer is JapanesePod101.com を止められません、とかね。 (O tome raremasen, toka ne.) |
Outro |
| Peter: Okay before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Naomi: The voice recording tool. |
| Peter: Yep. The voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Naomi: Record your own voice with a click of a button. |
| Peter: And then easily play it back again and again. |
| Naomi: So you record your own voice and then listen to it. |
| Peter: And it’s on the same page as line by line. So you can compare your voice, the way you pronounce it to the native speaker. |
| Naomi: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Peter: This will help you improve fast. Now that just about does it for today. |
| Naomi: じゃあ、また。 (Jā, mata.) |
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