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Being able to do something


There are a couple ways to say you can or are able to do something.

First, the easier way. Take the verb in its plain form, and add こと. This makes it mean "~ing" or "the act of ~ing".

食べること - taberu koto - eating
寝ること - neru koto - sleeping
飲むこと - nomu koto - drinking
死ぬこと - shinu koto - dying
読むこと - yomu koto - reading

It does not mean "ing" as in the sense of doing something. The こと makes the verb into a noun. If you said 私は食べることです。, it would mean "I am the act of eating.", which makes no sense.

Take this new nounverb, and add ができる. できる means "to ba able to do". So, you are literally saying " I can do the act of __ing" You may wonder why が is used instead of を. Well, it just is. Deal with it!

食べることができます。 - Taberu koto ga dekimasu. - I can eat.
寝ることができた。 - Neru koto ga dekita. - I was able to sleep.
飲むことができませんでした。 - Nomu koto ga dekimasendeshita. - I couldn't drink.
死ぬことができない。 - Shinu koto ga dekinai - I can't die.
読むことができる。 - Yomu koto ga dekiru - I can read.


That way is correct, but in reality, its not used that much.The other way that is used more is to take the final う of the verb, and change it to る. It becomes a る verb, and conjugates like one too, no matter what kind of verb it was before.

あそぶ - あそべる - can play
のむ - のめる - can drink
かく - かける - can write
かう - かえる - can buy
およぐ - およげる - can swim

The exception is that verbs that are already る verb get られる instead of just る. Actually though, often in speech the ら is dropped, making it the same as the other conjugation. For the sake of correctness, I'll use the right way.

たべる - たべ(ら)れる - can eat
みる - み(ら)れる - can see

Examples!

すしが食べられません。 - Sushi ga taberaremasen. - I can't eat sushi.
今夜、俺は寝れない。 - Konya, ore wa nerenai. - I can't sleep tonight.
あの湖で泳げますか。 - Ano mizuumi de oyogemasu ka? - Can you swim in that lake?
日本語で書ける。 - Nihongo de kakeru. - I can write in Japanese.
彼はそんなことができなかった。 - Kare wa sonna koto ga dekinai. - He couldn't do a thing like that.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are little words like "and, after that, so, then, because" and words like that. Japanese has many of them.


でも - demo- but
The most generic way to say "but".

僕のうちに猫がいる。でも、僕のじゃない。 - Boku no uchi ni neko ga iru. Demo, boku no janai. - There is a cat on my house. But, its not mine.

が - ga - but
Also but, but put at the end of the first sentence, instead of the beggining of the second.

日本語が読めますが、話せません。 - Nihongo ga yomemasu ga, hanasemasen. - I can read Japanese, but I cant speak it.

かど、かれど、かれども - kedo, keredo, keredomo - but, and
This means "but", but the "butness" of it is so light that it can often be translated as and. From left to right, least polite to most.

アイスクリームが寒いけど、おいしい。 - Aisukuriimu ga samui kedo, oishii. - Ice cream is cold but/and delicious.

しかし - shikashi (sometimes sounds like shikash') - but, however
The most formal way to say "but".

先生は本がたくさんある。しかし、読めない。 - Sensei wa hon ga takusan aru. Shikashi, yomenai. - The teacher has lots of books. However, he can't read them.


Okay, no time. Here are more. Just stick them in front of the sentence lke english.

それから - after that
これから - after this
あとで - later
そのまえに - before that
さいしょ - first
さいご - last
また - also
だから - more literally means "becase of that", but used more like "so"
それで - because of that
すると - kind of like "then"



to be continued...

Allright everyone. This is the end of october, and the end of Japanese. I may put in a bit more to make up for my missd week.

If anyone wants to continue, post or pm me, and I'll keep it going. I've still got plenty more I can teach, and if anyone is willing to learn, I'll do it. There is no master curriculum, If there is anything anyone wants to learn or whatever, just put it out there, and I shall answer.

So, it is up to you weather this will thrive and be prosperous, or whither and die. You know the right choice. heart

さて、よく考えてね。僕はまた日本語を教えてほしかったら、そう言って下さい。そうじゃなかったら、さようなら！そうだったら、行こう！

Yay! One person. anybody else out there?

How long? About 5 years I think.

ii desu ne.

Hooray, another.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'll be glad to give you a long-winded and detailed explanation of the even the meagerest question.

Okay then.

から basically never means at. It is usually only "from", and vaguer than that, showing doing something away from something, so to speak. It also means "because", which I bet you already know, but I haven't gone over it yet in this guide.

I'm gonna assume you can read most kanji, so...　
彼は日本から来ましたか。
猫はうちから出た
えんぴつを机の中から出しました。
僕は昨日は宿題を先生からもらった。

In that last sentence, から and に are interchangeable. Thats about the only place where can think of any overlap in them

僕は昨日は宿題を先生にもらった。


I'm sure you're aware that に has about 8400bazillion ways to be used.

日本に行きたい。
母に手紙を書くつもりです。
わたしはうちにいるのがいや。
夜、東京に着いた。
魚は猫に食べられました。
母はぜひ父をお酒を飲ませません。
学校にいない子供はめんどうくさいね。

So there are a bunch. I see lots of ni uses that could mean at, but I can't really think of any where kara is at. The thing is I think, ni and kara are almost opposites. They don't overlap much. If I made no sense, give me some examples of your own that you are confused about or something and I can probably make more sense.