Correct questions?

[thesuker]

I've got to questions with the following prompts, in potential form:

speak foreign language? - what language?
drive a car? good?
cook? what dish?
play tennis? good?

This is what I wrote:

外国語を話せますか。何が話せますか。
車を運転できますか。上手な運転できますか。
料理できますか。何が料理できますか。
テニスをできますか。上手なテニスをできますか。

Would it be correct? I've got doubts about the 何 parts.

 

[Mike Cash]

上手な adjective
上手に adverb

 

[thesuker]

Thanks.

 

[nekojita]

I would probably say どんな（お）料理ができますか?
also, ~ができる not ~をできる

 

[thesuker]

Yes, not using上手に and が were both mistakes. So, when asking for what kind of... is it generally better to use どんな? For example: どんな楽器ができますか ? (that was actually going to be my next question.)

 

[nekojita]

何の~ (なんの) seems to be asking to identify a specific item out of a set.
どんな~ seems to be asking for a more general description

e.g. 何の本? might be answered with the name of a book or a generic classification, どんな本? by a description of it.

So 何の楽器 if you want to ask which instrument somebody can play, どんな楽器 if you want to ask them "and what kind of instrument is a flugelhorn?"

 

[Toritoribe]

As for foreign languages and instruments, I would say 何か外国語が話せますか and 何か楽器が弾けますか/吹けますか/使えますか/演奏できますか, respectively.

 

[thesuker]

Thanks a lot for both replies.

I would say 何か外国語が話せますか and 何か楽器が弾けますか/吹けますか

That would be the most direct way to ask it, but I wanted to ask first a yes/no question, and then ask about the specific language/instrument (it's what the exercise asks for)

I'm also trying to write an example sentence for 困る. Would this be correct?

お父さんは、今朝、私にお酒を買ってと言いました。でも、忘れました。。。今、お父さんはお酒が持っていないから、うれしくなくて、私は困っています.

I'm not sure about the て form joining うれしくなくて and 私は困っています.

 

[Mike Cash]

困るのはお父さんだろう？

(お酒を書く？買う？)

 

[thesuker]

困るのはお父さんだろう？

I'm following this example from tangorin.com:

私は困っている。 I am in trouble.

So what I want to say is: Now my father has no alcohol, he isn't happy and I'm in trouble.

(お酒を書く？買う？)

Corrected, thanks.

 

[Mike Cash]

It doesn't mean the sort of "in trouble" like "I'm in someone's bad graces" or "I'm in the doghouse". More like having a problem or being in a tough spot.

I would more expect the speaker to say 参った than 困った regarding himself. His father is 酒がなくて困っている。The father is the one who is in a troubling situation here.

 

[thesuker]

Thanks a lot for the clarification. I think I'll just change お酒 to お薬, which explains a bit better why my father would be in a tight spot.

お父さんは、今朝、私にお薬を買ってと言いました。でも、忘れました。。。今、お父さんはお薬を持っていないから、困っています。

 

[Mike Cash]

Here's a useful way to indirectly quote instructions:

Verb + ように

Ex

父に薬を買うように言われた
父が薬を買うように言った

父に薬を買うように言った
父に薬を買うように言ってください

 

[thesuker]

Thanks a lot, that will be very useful

 

[Mike Cash]

Another useful construction:

For "forgot to {verb}" you can form a sort of compound verb using the stem of the verb + 忘れる

薬を買い忘れた
薬を飲み忘れた
電気を消し忘れた
ガソリンを入れ忘れた