I’m studying some N2 grammar and I’ve run into this doozy of a grammar point.
I think I understand the basics of える and うる…but what do you do about です?
いえる?いうる?
Or do you just switch to できる?
When do you use できる instead? That is how I managed in my daily life in Tokyo, even though I’m sure I screw things up grammatically from time to time.
できる is the potential form of する
です doesn’t have a potential form, because it’s the copula - you’re not doing anything, so there’s no sense in saying “can do”.
Do you mean the differences? My Handbook of Grammar Patterns blah blah says that うる can’t be used with verbs in masu, negative, or た forms. Only えます, えない, and えた will be seen.
Other than that, they’re pretty much the same, just alternate readings of the same character. 得る.
Hmm. The Dictionary of Japanese Grammar’s index entry for える basically just says “see られる2”, but then never explicitly mentions える, so it’s probably just referring to the う-verb conjugation. There’s no other mention, in any of the trilogy.