ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the various situations where it is appropriate to communicate what people are or are not able to do, from casually talking about their specialty to promoting their skills at a job interview. In many languages, expressions of ability can also be used to discuss possibility, that is, whether a particular circumstance enables one to do something. The chapter covers such expressions in Japanese. In English, in order to talk about the ability to do something, one uses the auxiliary verb can or the adjective able in be able to. In either case, the verb itself remains unchanged. In contrast, to achieve the same effect in Japanese, one must change verbs into potential forms, which conjugate like regular verbs. Potential forms enable them to say that someone is capable of doing something or that some action is possible. Grammar points are followed by contextualized examples and exercises which allow students to reinforce and consolidate their learning.
