N4 · UNIT 4

Potential I ～られる・できる

Say what you CAN do. The potential form turns every verb into an ability, 泳げます, 読めます, 話せます, plus 見えます and 聞こえます for what simply reaches your senses.

About this unit

This unit hands you one of the most freeing tools in the language: the potential form. Until now you could only say what you do; now you can say what you're able to do, and just as usefully, what you can't. The formation rules are the same e-row logic you've drilled since the て-form, so your ears are ready. Watch for the special pair 見えます・聞こえます at the end: Japanese distinguishes what you manage to see from what simply enters your eyes.

Potential form（可能形）～が＋potential～ことができます見えます／聞こえます

語彙 · Vocabulary 36 words · 10 kanji

Read the words 語彙

Read straight down the list once, out loud if you can. Don't grind them here, the Anki deck at the bottom does the memorizing. Right now you only want the shapes and sounds to feel familiar.

Word	Reading	Meaning
運動	うんどう	exercise
運動します	うんどうします	to exercise
スポーツ	スポーツ	sports
サッカー	サッカー	soccer
野球	やきゅう	baseball
テニス	テニス	tennis
水泳	すいえい	swimming
ジム	ジム	gym
走ります	はしります	to run
歩きます	あるきます	to walk
自転車	じてんしゃ	bicycle
バイク	バイク	motorbike
運転	うんてん	driving
運転します	うんてんします	to drive
力	ちから	strength; power
強い	つよい	strong
弱い	よわい	weak
特別	とくべつ	special
自由	じゆう	free; unrestricted
自分	じぶん	oneself
勝ちます	かちます	to win
負けます	まけます	to lose
試合	しあい	match; game
チーム	チーム	team
練習	れんしゅう	practice
練習します	れんしゅうします	to practice
見えます	みえます	to be visible
聞こえます	きこえます	to be audible
登ります	のぼります	to climb
スキー	スキー	skiing
スケート	スケート	skating
マラソン	マラソン	marathon
ボール	ボール	ball
サーフィン	サーフィン	surfing
ヨガ	ヨガ	yoga
卓球	たっきゅう	table tennis

Learn the kanji 漢字

The 10 kanji for this unit. Tap any card to flip between its meaning and its readings, and say the reading aloud as it flips.

泳

swim

歩

walk

走

run

運

carry; luck

転

turn; roll

力

power; strength

特

special

別

separate; different

自

self

由

reason; via

Read it in context 会話

Everything above, working together. Read the conversation top to bottom, out loud. Every line is built only from words and kanji you have already met, so resist the English, tap a word only if you are truly stuck.

Show English

Yuki is planning a Sunday, pool in the morning, the big park in the afternoon. First she needs to know what everyone can actually do.

ゆき

マリア、日曜日にプールへ行かない？新しいジムのプール、もうつかえるよ。

Maria, wanna hit the pool on Sunday? The new gym's pool is open now.

マリア

いいね！でも、私はあまり早くおよげないよ。ゆきはおよげる？

Nice! But I can't swim very fast. Can you?

ゆき

うん、少しおよげる。たなかさんもさそわない？

Yeah, a little. Should we invite Mr. Tanaka too?

たなか

（電話で）すみません、私はぜんぜんおよげないんです。子どもの時から、水がこわくて……。

(on the phone) Sorry, I can't swim at all. I've been afraid of water since I was a kid...

マリア

だいじょうぶですよ。じゃあ、プールの後で、こうえんへ行きませんか。たなかさんは、じてんしゃにのれますか。

No problem. Then how about the park after the pool? Can you ride a bike, Mr. Tanaka?

たなか

はい、じてんしゃならのれます。車の運転もできますよ。

Yes, bikes I can ride. I can drive a car, too.

ゆき

じゃあ、日曜日はプールとこうえんだね。こうえんの山の上からは、天気がいい時、ふじ山が見えるよ。

So Sunday is pool plus park! From the top of the park's hill, you can see Mt. Fuji when the weather's good.

マリア

ほんとうに？たのしみ！（日曜日・こうえんで）わあ、ここからまちがぜんぶ見えますね。あっ、あれ、ふじ山じゃないですか！

Really? Can't wait! (Sunday, at the park) Wow, you can see the whole town from here. Wait, isn't that Mt. Fuji?!

たなか

そうです。今日はとくべつよく見えますね。

It is. It's especially clear today.

ゆき

しずかだから、とりのこえも聞こえるね。

It's so quiet you can hear the birds, too.

Notice: nobody says およぐことができません in casual talk, the short potential およげない does the work. And catch the last two lines: ふじ山が見えます, とりのこえが聞こえます. Maria isn't trying to see the mountain; it simply enters her eyes. That's 見える, ability without effort.

Stop, learn the vocabulary before the grammar

These units are short on purpose. The grammar only clicks when the words are already automatic, so front-load the deck here, and let spaced repetition do the memorizing while the lesson does the teaching.

Import this unit's deck. Generate it with npm run content:deck, then import n4-unit4-deck.apkg into Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.)
Learn all 36 words as new cards. Get through the whole deck in a sitting or two, you're aiming for recognition, not mastery yet.
Review daily until every card reaches a 3–5 day interval. When the whole deck has settled at that spacing, the words are holding on their own and won't fight you during the grammar.
Then come back. You'll read the patterns instead of decoding the words, and that's when a "small" unit actually soaks in.

Anki open with AnkiConnect? I can confirm the deck for you.

I've learned this unit's vocabulary deck to a 3 to 5 day review interval.

Tick the box above once the deck is soaking in, then the grammar unlocks.

文法 · Grammar 4 patterns

Take one pattern at a time. Read the rule, then read each example out loud until the shape feels obvious. The words should already be automatic from your deck, so all you are learning here is how they lock together.

Quick suggestion: write these patterns down by hand as you read them. It is the one habit that textbook learners and self-taught immersion learners both swear by, and a notebook is the cheapest memory upgrade there is. Not required, just recommended.

Potential form（可能形）

る-verbs: swap る for られる (食べる→食べられる). う-verbs: slide the final sound to the e-row and add る (泳ぐ→泳げる, 話す→話せる, 買う→買える). Irregulars: する→できる, 来る→来られる. The result conjugates as a る-verb.

日本語が話せます。

I can speak Japanese.

あしたは早く来られますか。

Can you come early tomorrow?

Note: The potential of a potential doesn't exist, 泳げられる is never right. And in real speech ら often drops from られる: 食べれる, 見れる (ら抜きことば). Textbooks frown; Japan says it daily. Recognize both.

～が＋potential

With potential verbs, the object usually takes が instead of を: 日本語が話せます, かんじが読めます. The thing you can handle gets the spotlight particle.

かんじが少し読めます。

I can read a little kanji.

なっとうが食べられますか。

Can you eat natto?

Note: を isn't wrong, 日本語を話せます is heard, but が is the default and what the JLPT expects. Places keep their own particles: プールでおよげます, 学校へ早く来られます.

～ことができます

The formal, structural way to say "can": plain form + ことができます. Same meaning as the potential form, one size bigger, announcements, applications, careful speech.

ここできっぷを買うことができます。

You can buy tickets here.

この川でおよぐことはできません。

Swimming in this river is not allowed / not possible.

Note: In conversation the short potential wins; ことができます sounds official, signs, staff, and station announcements love it. It's also your escape hatch when you can't remember a potential form fast enough.

見えます／聞こえます

Perception that happens TO you. 見えます, it's visible; 聞こえます, it's audible. No effort, no choice: the mountain appears, the sound arrives. Both take が.

ここからふじ山が見えます。

You can see Mt. Fuji from here.

となりのへやから音楽が聞こえます。

Music is audible from the next room.

Note: 見られる vs 見える: あしたえいがが見られます, I'm able to watch (circumstances allow); まどから海が見えます, the sea is simply there in view. If you did nothing and still perceive it, use 見える・聞こえる.

文化 · Culture note

A short read on the world these words live in. Nothing to drill here, just the context that makes the grammar feel like something people actually say.

A Country That Moves, Radio Taiso to the Yamanote Jog うんどう

Japan exercises together. Every summer morning at 6:30, NHK radio still broadcasts ラジオ体操, the three-minute calisthenics routine that schoolchildren, construction crews, and entire company offices have performed in unison since 1928. Elementary schoolers collect stamps for attending morning sessions in the park during summer break. It looks quaint on video; in person, watching a whole neighborhood move in sync before work, it explains a great deal about Japan.

School sports live in 部活, after-school clubs that practice with near-professional seriousness five or six days a week. The autumn 運動会 (sports day) shuts down every school in the country for footraces, relay teams, and the famous group gymnastics; whole families attend with elaborate bento. Ask any Japanese adult 何部でしたか (what club were you in?) and you will unlock ten minutes of nostalgia, it's one of the best small-talk questions this course will ever give you.

And the country runs. The Hakone Ekiden, a two-day, 217-kilometer university relay race every January 2nd and 3rd, draws TV ratings most countries reserve for World Cup finals. City marathons hold lotteries for entries, and the jogging loop around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo has an official etiquette code (counter-clockwise, please). If you take up running in Japan, you will never lack company.

Try it: Learn to answer 何かスポーツができますか smoothly, it's a standard getting-to-know-you question. Even ぜんぜんできません、でも見るのは好きです (can't play at all, but I love watching) keeps the conversation moving perfectly.

生教材 · Immersion 3 assignments · real Japanese, on rails

This week in the wild

Potential forms are everywhere machines and menus talk to you, できます is the voice of every app, ticket gate, and game tutorial in Japan. This week, let the interfaces do the immersing.

You will not understand everything, that is the point. Success is recognizing this unit's patterns in the wild, not full comprehension. Tick what you tried and move on.

Switch one device to Japanese Your phone's language settings, or just one app (Duolingo, YouTube, a game) Set it to 日本語 for three days. You already know where every button is, now read what the buttons actually say. Hunt for できます／できません in dialogs and confirmations. You found three できる-family words in an interface and understood what each allowed. Game tutorial archaeology Any video game with Japanese language support (or a let's-play, search ゲーム実況) Tutorials are potential-form goldmines, ここでセーブできます, まだ入れません, 買えるアイテム. Play or watch fifteen minutes and collect every "can/can't" the game tells you. You caught five potential forms and know what the game was permitting or forbidding. Sports interview minute YouTube, search 選手インタビュー or any post-game interview Athletes' interviews are slow, humble, and full of potential forms (勝てました, うまく走れませんでした). Listen to one minute, twice. Count the ました endings; catch any potential you can. You heard at least one "was able to / couldn't" in the wild.

発話 · Speaking 8 ghost drills · say it out loud

Ghosting

Abilities are the small talk of first meetings, can you swim, can you drive, can you eat natto. Ghost the lines, then answer the prompts honestly; a real わたしはぜんぜんおよげません is worth ten textbook sentences.

Three passes per line: listen, speak along with the voice (that's the ghost), then speak alone. Out loud, whispering doesn't build the muscle. Prompt drills show English first: answer in Japanese before revealing.

私はあまり早くおよげません。

I can't swim very fast.

じてんしゃならのれます。車の運転もできますよ。

Bikes I can ride, and I can drive a car, too.

ここからまちがぜんぶ見えますね。

You can see the whole town from here.

しずかだから、とりのこえも聞こえますね。

It's so quiet you can even hear the birds.

Say it in Japanese: I can speak a little Japanese.

日本語が少し話せます。

Hint: 話す → e-row → 話せる; the object takes が.

Say it in Japanese: Can you read kanji?

かんじが読めますか。

Hint: 読む → 読める.

Say it in Japanese: I can't eat natto.

なっとうが食べられません。

Hint: る-verb → られる, then negate.

Say it in Japanese: You can buy stamps here.

ここできっぷを買うことができます。

Hint: The formal version, plain form + ことができます.

Audio uses your browser's Japanese voice. If you hear nothing, your system may need a Japanese voice installed, read the lines aloud from the text instead; the ghost pass still works.

練習 · Worksheet 8 exercises

Convert each verb to its potential form (or pick the right perception verb) and type it in hiragana.

（1）私は日本語が（　　　　）ます。, “I can speak Japanese.” （話します→？）

（2）マリアさんはかんじが（　　　）ます。, “Maria can read kanji.” （読みます→？）

（3）私はなっとうが（　　　　　）ません。, “I can't eat natto.” （食べます→？）

（4）あした、早く（　　　　）ますか。, “Can you come early tomorrow?” （来ます→？）

（5）テニスが（　　　）ます。, “I can play tennis.” （します→？）

（6）ここからふじ山が（　　　）ます。, “Mt. Fuji is visible from here.”

（7）となりのへやから音楽が（　　　　）ます。, “Music is audible from the next room.”

（8）かんじ（　）読めますか。, the particle the potential prefers

Check your answers to continue, it doesn't matter how many you miss.

Unit Quiz JLPT FORMAT

Pass mark 80% · instant explanations · passing unlocks the next unit