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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! You are looking forward to the possibility of attending graduate school in Japan, but first you have to finish your application. You never realized how much there is to keep track of when you want to attend a Japanese school! And the paperwork is the easy part—now you must consider the possibility of traveling across Japan for the interview! In this lesson, you’ll learn the usage of the Japanese auxiliary verb -eru or -uru. Our Japanese conversation takes place mainly at a post office and is between a postal employee and a prospective graduate student, Manabu. Because the speakers are a clerk and a customer, they will be speaking formal Japanese. You’ll also learn a Japanese expression for indicating when your mind goes blank. Visit us at JapanesePod101.com, where you will find many more fantastic Japanese lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!


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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Upper Intermediate Season 5 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

26 Responses to “Upper Intermediate S5 #14 - Is There Any Possibility of You Passing This Japanese Exam?”

JapanesePod101.com says:

みなさん、try making a sentence using 起こり得る! :)

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wael says:

sabaku de uzumaki ga okorienai.
+++
is this right?
chuugokugo ga hanashieru no wa Zero desu.
atarashi gengo ga hanashital desu.10 wari ni chuugokugo ga hanashieru .

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Natsuko says:

wael-san,
Interesting sentences!
When you wrote “uzumaki”, did you mean “tornado”? Tornado in Japanese is “tatsumaki”, actually :wink:
But the sentence is correct! :grin:
Other two are…would you clarify what exactly want to say, please?

Natsuko/JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

uzumaki=whirlpool.
Possibility of speak Chinese is zero
(watachi)chuugokugo ga hanashieru no wa Zero desu.
atarashi gengo ga hanashital nara.10 wari ni chuugokugo ga hanashieru .
If I want to speak a new .10% is the possibility of speak Chinese

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Natsuko says:

wael-san,
I see! :smile:
(watashi ga) chuugokugo o hanasu kakuritsu wa zero desu.
In this case, maybe “hanashieru” is difficult to use…
And,
atarashii gengo o hanasu nara, chuugokugo o hanasu kakuritu wa 10% desu.

By the way, 10% is 1 wari. Hope this helps! :wink:

Natsuko/JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

if some wone ask me
“kyou kimasuka”
it good if i answer
“iie, kienai to omoimasu,daigakuno shiken ga arimasu kara.”
is it good”kienai to omoimasu”?!!!!

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Kat says:

wael-san,

“Kienai” isn’t the correct verb. You should say: “iie, ikenai to omoimasu.” (Iku = to go). The second half of your sentence was perfect!

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wael says:

what’s meaning of “verb non-controllable” ?
and
why i can say “eigo ga hanashieru”

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san,
:roll: where did this “verb non-controllable” come from?
Could you clarify better what your question is, please?
And, “eigo ga hanashieru” is simply not correct.
When you talk about your ability, you say “hanaseru” or “hanasenai”.
Hope this helps!

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

pdf says We can replace -eru and -uru with koto ga dekiru or the potential form of a verb when the
verb is controllable. However, when the verb is non-controllable, such as okoru, meaning “to
occur,” and aru, meaning “to exist,” we cannot replace -eru and -uru.
what’s “verb non-controllable” refer to ?
++++
When you talk about your ability, you say “hanaseru” or “hanasenai”.
but when i taik about others can i use “eru”
ex.yamada san kono paatii e ikienai.
when i taik about natural causes can i use “eru”
kono tochi ni せきゆ ga arienai.
+++
sono shiken ni kyuudai shieru.
sono shiken ni kyuudai sareru.
which sentence are correct .why?

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wael says:

and if i say
chuugokugo ga hanashienai
Impossible to speak Chinese.
is this correct ?

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san,

1. “Non-controllable” refers to an action that a human being cannot control. For example, “an earthquake happens” (jishin ga okoru).

2. Yes, you can use the “eru”/”enai” ending to refer to others.

3. By “kyuudai”, do you mean 及第 (to pass an exam)? I have to tell you that this word is very rarely used. we more often say 合格する (goukaku suru).
Also, the word “shieru” does not exist. “Suru” becomes “dekiru”.
Neither of those sentences are correct. What I think you want to say is:
Sono shiken ni goukaku dekisou.
I think I can pass that exam.

4. Again, the ending “shienai” does not exist. It is “hanasenai”.
Chuugokugo ga hanasenai = I cannot speak Chinese.
“~enai” does not mean “impossible”. It simply states that the subject of the verb cannot do the action.

Kat/Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

so, if i can use the “eru”/”enai” ending to refer to others
aki san Chuugokugo ga hanasenai .
or
aki san Chuugokugo ga hanashienai .

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san,
“akisan wa chuugokugo ga hanasenai” is correct.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

usually don’t use this expressions for your own action.
(eru/enai & kanenai)
aki san Chuugokugo ga hanashienai .
aki san Chuugokugo ga hanashikanenai .right????
so,why this sentence is wrong?
-aki san Chuugokugo ga hanashienai .
at pdfhave been used “得る” FOR MY OWN ACTION.
-考え得る方法は全て試してみました。
+++++
so,i think the sentence will be better if i say it like:
aki san Chuugokugo ga hanashite arienai.right????
+++
but i confuse about something here .if i want express “it possible for someone/me to do something” useing “得る”. why it can’t be like this??
ashita,toshokan e ikienai.
akashan ga 4sai atode arukieru.
akashan ga 4sai atode hanashieru.
+
-watashi Chuugokugo ga hanashienai .
impossible to me speak chinese .
maybe i can but (it’s difficult to me).
watashi wa uchuu de ikieru.
it possible for me live in space
watashi wa uchuu de ikeru.
i can live in space.

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san,
First of all, “–eru” and “–enai” is, like you understood, “possible” and
“impossible”. What you have to understand here is that these “possibility”
is a lot to do with CONTROLLABLE/INCONTROLLABLE.
The reason “ashita toshokan e ikienai” is wrong is because “it’s up to you”.
i.e. you can “decide” whether or not you go to library.
This is NOT possibility, but it’s probability.

Regarding “–kanenai”, this means “there’s possibility/risk of (something) happening”. —”risk”.
So, when you use this expression, you don’t really wish [something] happens.

Also note that speaking Chinese is a “skill” and/or “ability”, it’s not possibility.

Hope this helps.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

thank you, Natsuko sensei.
i see, my problem is i can’t understand difference between possibility and probability in japanese.because possibility sometimes indicate “probability”.any help. please?
THIS SENTENCES ARE CORRECT?
akashan ga 4sai atode hanashieru.
aki san Chuugokugo ga hanashite arienai.

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san,
1. akashan ga 4sai atode hanashieru.
It’s “akachan”, not “akashan”.
And, just like “speaking Chinese”, this “baby speaking” is a baby’s “skill”
and/or ability, isn’t it?
So, this sentence is not correct.
On a separate note, we don’t say “4 sai atode”. It’d be “4nen go”.

2. aki san Chuugokugo ga hanashite arienai.
As I wrote in the previous comment, this is skill/ability, not possibility.
So, this is also incorrect.
Please be careful not to drop “wa” or “ga” in “Aki san wa” or “Aki san ga”.
As an expression, we don’t say “hanashite arienai”. It’d be “hanashienai” or
“hanasu koto wa arienai”.

If you cannot understand if something is considered as possibility,
maybe the easiest would be to think/wonder if it’s possible to happen
BEYOND control. This wouldn’t apply to all the cases, but I think it’d
solve most of your problem.

Hope this helps.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

この けっかは よそう し えた はずだ. “ability”
考え得る方法は全て試してみました。 “ability”
why these sentences are correct?.they are expressed ability.
+++
how i want express Probability(possibility) to do some action?.

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san, kon’nichiwa
Possibility would be quite similar to ability depending on the context.
Someone can do a certain action, then that action is possible to happen/be done.
As you can see the translation,
1)この けっかは よそう し えた はずだ.
“They should have been able to predict this result.”
The English translation uses “able to” so that you would think it indicated ability. But in other way, it can literally be translated as “It should be possible to predict this result.” In terms of the difference between English and Japanese way of expressing, you would feel confused.

2)考え得る方法は全て試してみました。
“I tried everything I could think of.”
All the ways can be described the possible ways, which came to the speaker’s mind. It is the reason why -uru can be used in this sentence.

You can use “-kamoshirenai” or “-darou/deshou.” One of the obvious words would be tabun “probably/maybe” and osoraku “(a bit formal)probably/maybe.” Of course you can also use ‘-eru.’

I hope this helps, not makes you more confused.
Motoko
Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

sorry for my question about this lesson.
i asked my teacher about “eru” and he told “to describe something could be happen for first time or not always happen”
-really i don’t know when i can use this expresstion
so can you help me please
+++
garasu wa atsuryoku de wareeru.
garasu wa atsuryoku de warerareru.
what’s different here?

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san,
“warerareru” doesn’t have expression of “-eru”.
your first sentence (garasu ga atsuryoku de wareeru) is correct :smile:

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

so, can i say “eru” used with inanimate object that doesn’t has a life and ability.

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san, kon’nichiwa.
Yes, as you used in your previous post, you can use -eru/uru for non-animate things.
e.g.
Garasu ga/wa atsuryoku de wareuru.
Jishin wa itsudemo okoriuru.
“Earthquakes can happen at any time.”
The Lesson Notes also have some other examples. Please check them out as well.

Motoko
Team JapanesePod101.com

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wael says:

[Verb; masu form] + 得る
so,I can’t use this expression when I(Speaker) say that someone able to do something or when express My own action or(ability).
but
考え得る方法は全て試してみました (why is correct?)
kangaeru indicates(ability=everyone can consider/think)

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JapanesePod101.com says:

wael-san,
normal ~得る means “something is possible to realise”, right?
In that sentence, this person tried everything [that s/he could possibly think of]. The actual realised action is “to try” not “to think”.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

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