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That's what I was trying to say. Actually I would have preferred to say "I can't read much" or "only a little," I just wasn't sure how to do that.

Okay, for the first one you through ことが in it. I was about to ask if you were specifying words ("can't read Japanese words") but realized it's ことが not ば. So... after looking it up, I came up with ことができる (1. can (do) 2. to be able to (do)). I've never seen that before, it looks like a verb but it's weird how you drop the る, add ない, and put it next to another verb in it's root form like that.

The second sentence it looks like you just said "I don't read Japanese," and didn't specify ability. You put 読め instead of 読む, so you just dropped the る in "can read?"

Sorry if it seems like I'm rambling, I feel like I should try to figure it out myself beforehand.

It you could just explain what ことができる is exactly and what you did with it, and what you did in the second sentence I would appreciate it.



I see.



That's okay, how are you typing Japanese characters then?

The only way I know how is to copy-paste from online dictionaries and other sources, it's very tedious.

Christ almighty, that was way clearer and more informative than any textbook or website has explained so far. Thanks a lot Vajra, I'm going to read over that again and try some verbs on my own to absorb that lesson.

You say you don't care for teaching, but I think you're good at making a clear picture of things.

Self-test: So... I knew られる was a conjugation for ability, like "can eat" 食べられる (as you demonstrated. In the Pimsleur lesson I learned 食べられます was "can eat," so I assumed that られ applied to all or most verbs pertaining to the "ability" conjugation. But it only applies to verbs that end in る, right? So for other verbs like... one you haven't used... 書く? For 書く you would add こと, to make it one word (what passes for words in Japanese); 書くこと, "the act of reading." That's incredibly useful you have no idea, does that essentially make it a noun? Anyway, to continue, I add が to make it the object of the sentence; 書くことが, "as for the act of reading," then I take this new verb (new for me anyway); できる, "can," drop the る and add ない to make it negative, and tack it onto 書くことが to make 書くことができない; "I cannot write."

Did I do that correctly? This is very cool, for good measure what would be the polite form of 書くことができありません...? I'm just guessing here.

Now your other way is a simpler sentence but less easy to understand. For verbs that end in う, I change the stem from the い column to the え column? So 買う becomes 買えない, and 書く becomes 書けない? Or am I not understanding?

Also, I think I understand how you interjected あまり and 少しだけ, to be sure let me try some new sentences with "speak" ~

1. 日本語が話すことができない
2. 日本語を話せない
3. 日本語があまり話せない
4. 日本語を少しだけ話せる
5. 日本語を少し話せる

->

1. I can't (do the act of) read(ing) Japanese
2. I can't read Japanese
3. I can't read that much Japanese
4. I can only read a little Japanese
5. I can read a little Japanese

Is that all correct? If not let me know, but I think I understand so far.

Just two more questions if this isn't too overbearing. When you add こと to the end of a verb, does it or can it become a noun? Like could I use 書くこと in a sentence such as 書くことが好き?

Also, some clarification on the difference between が and を (and は for that matter) would be appreciated. You seemed to use が and を interchangeably. My understanding is that は is a "subject marker," が and "object marker," and を some kind of direct... verb action marker.

Thanks for being patient with me.

What did I tell ya, Japanese is easy when presented correctly. And I have more lessons, if you'd like.



All that is correct. But remember, the ～ことができる　can be used with る verbs too, not just う verbs. 食べるこができる, for example.



書くことができません. For the polite negative, just drop る and add ません.



Nope, you got it.



The grammar was fine, but you've confused　話す and 読む. 話す is speak, and 読む is read.

And remember, the adverb is not all that fixed. The あまり or 少しだけ could come at the beggining of the sentence and it would be just fine.

Just two more questions if this isn't too overbearing. When you add こと to the end of a verb, does it or can it become a noun? Like could I use 書くこと in a sentence such as 書くことが好き?



I don't have time to tell you now, but remind me and I'll tell you later. K?

Okay.



Aw geez... redface

Okay, apparently I need to check what I write before I post it. I meant to refer to 書く as "to write" and 話す as "to speak," but I stupidly referred to them both as "to read." Maybe because I decided to replace 読む in my post, I don't know. It's not important as long as I conjugated them correctly, just know that I understand the definitions of these verbs, otherwise I wouldn't use them. (My verb vocabulary is cripplingly small in the first place).



I see. I think I'll stick with putting those before the verb, but it's comforting to know that if I somehow accidentally put them before the object, it's still correct.



Yeah, like I said, I need to be more meticulous than I already am before I post.

I think I meant to say 走ることができない is "can't run," and 走ることができる is "can run." Plug that in where I repeated and my question should make sense.




I see, that's important to know.



Ah, that's what I wanted to know.

Thanks Vajra, all very informative. Japanese verb conjugations are logical, but still wild...

I'll give it a break for now. sweatdrop