Correct questions?

thesuker · 24 Mar 2015

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 · 24 Mar 2015

上手な adjective
上手に adverb

thesuker · 24 Mar 2015

Thanks.

nekojita · 24 Mar 2015

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 · 24 Mar 2015

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 · 24 Mar 2015

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 · 25 Mar 2015

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 · 25 Mar 2015

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 · 25 Mar 2015

困るのはお父さんだろう？

(お酒を書く？買う？)

thesuker · 25 Mar 2015

Mike Cash said:
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.

Mike Cash said:
(お酒を書く？買う？)

Corrected, thanks.

Mike Cash · 25 Mar 2015

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 · 25 Mar 2015

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 · 25 Mar 2015

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 · 25 Mar 2015

Thanks a lot, that will be very useful

Mike Cash · 26 Mar 2015

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

Correct questions?

thesuker

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

thesuker

先輩

nekojita

先輩

thesuker

先輩

nekojita

先輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

thesuker

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

thesuker

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

thesuker

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

thesuker

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Similar threads