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Volitional and Potential
Volitional and Potential
Volitional and Potential
Volitional Volitional
め のむ。
のもう。
Drink.
Let’s drink. If you attach ~とおもっている to this form, you
indicate that you are planning to verb.
も+う かえる。 I will go home.
Verbs ending in ~う just change to ~おう かえろうか。 Shall we go home?
かえろうとおもっている。
I’m thinking of going home.
うたう。 Sing. あう。 Meet.
うたおう。 Let’s sing. あおうか。 Shall we meet?
@ScriptingJapan
Dr. Wes Robertson
Japanese Potential Form @ScriptingJapan
The “potential” form is used to show that someone can(not) do something.
The irregular verbs する and くる do not follow any pattern. You simply have to memorize their forms.
Potential Once in potential Potential This form isn’t
form, verbs conjugate very common
する できる further as る verbs
くる こられる to see/use
たべる たべられる
but it does help differentiate the potential from the passive.
For う verbs, change the final [consonant+う] sound to Formally, you are supposed to use が instead of を with
all potential forms. This is changing, but be careful, as
the [same consonant+え] sound, and then add る.
some people will treat ~をたべられる etc. as incorrect.
のむ。 Will drink.
ま のめなかった。 Couldn’t drink. ビールをのむ。 I drink beer.
み
の む うたう。 Will sing. ビールがのめる。 I can drink beer.
うたえる。 Can sing. Once in potential (always correct)
める form, verbs conjugate ビールをのめる。 I can drink beer
も はしれる。 Can run. further as る verbs (potentially improper)