When using the potential form of a verb, I was taught that the particle を becomes が. However, in real life this seems to not always be the case. I've even heard Japanese people use を instead of が quite often.
What's the difference between the following two sentences? Is を actually grammatically correct?
ここで切符が買えますか？
ここで切符を買えますか？
Answer
In the が + potential construction, the focus is on the noun.
新聞が読める (what I am able to read is newspapers [as opposed to other written media])
ここで切符が買えますか (is this where tickets [as opposed to other items for sale] can be bought?)
In the を + potential construction, the focus is on the entire phrase.
新聞を読める (what I am able to do is read newspapers)
ここで切符を買えますか (is this where I am able to buy tickets [as opposed to doing some other action]?)
を + potential is not yet considered standard, but has begun to gain acceptance among some speakers.
(Paraphrased from Japanese: The Spoken Language)
No comments:
Post a Comment