Page 522 - Basic Japanese

The salesperson came to my house again (and I

was not happy).

Ashita wa shichi-ji made ni koraremasu ka.
Can you come here by seven tomorrow?

However, for consonant verbs, the potential form is made

by adding -e-ru to the stem: yob-e-ru ‘can be called,’ yom-e-ru
‘can be read,’ aruk-e-ru ‘can walk,’ etc. That is, for consonant

verbs, their polite forms of the potential differ from their
polite forms of the ordinary version only by having the

vowel e instead of i before the endings -masu, -mashita, et
cetera, thus it is very important to pronounce these vowels
clearly and distinctly so that kaemasu ‘can buy’ will not sound

like kaimasu ‘will buy,’ for example. The meaning of the

potential verbs is ‘something can be done,’ and the
something itself takes the particle ga:

Eigo ga hanasemasu.

English can be spoken. = (He) can speak

English.

Kono byōin no naka de wa keitai ga tsukaemasen.
Cell phones cannot be used in this hospital.

You’re already familiar with this process: Neko ga suki desu
‘Cats are liked = I like cats.’ The person who can do
something is marked by either wa or ga depending on the