Page 523 - Basic Japanese
P. 523

emphasis; sometimes, the person can be explicitly marked

                by ni:





                          Watashi (ni) wa yomemasen.
                          I cannot read it.


                     For  the  potential  of  suru  ‘does,’  the  verb  dekiru  ‘is

                possible’ is used:






                          Benkyō dekimasu ka.




                          Can you study?






                          Kesa wa roguin dekimasen


                          deshita.



                          I could not log in this morning.





                          Ame ga futta kara sanpo dekimasen deshita.
                          It rained, so we couldn’t take our walk.


                     The meaning of any potential is about the same  as the

                meaning  of  the  ordinary  verb  imperfect  +  koto  ga  dekiru:

                Nihongo  ga  yomemasu  ka  =  Nihongo  o  yomu  koto  ga  dekimasu  ka
                ‘Can  you  read  Japanese?’  Here  are  additional  example
                sentences:
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