Ability — できます

In this episode you'll learn できます — the Japanese word for "can" or "to be able to." One pattern, one particle, and you'll be able to talk about any ability in Japanese.

What You'll Learn#

• できます — can, to be able to, is possible
• できません — can't, cannot
• The noun が できます pattern — how to say "I can do X"
• When to swap the particle が for は when expressing inability

The Core Pattern#

The pattern is noun + が + できます.

Vocabulary in This Episode#

Sentences from This Episode#

が vs は with できません#

Both patterns are natural in Japanese:

• スキーができません — straightforward statement: I can't ski
• スキーはできません — with は: adds subtle contrast, like "skiing, that's something I can't do"

You'll hear both. The particle は version adds a slight emphasis or contrast, often implying "compared to other things" or "that specifically."

Full Transcript#

Miki: Welcome to げんきフロー, episode thirty-six. Last episode, you learned する — the verb for doing. Today, one tiny step up: from doing, to whether you can do. One word unlocks a whole new way of talking about yourself.

Miki: Quick review. The word for cooking as a noun is 料理. Add する and you get 料理します.

Yuu: 料理します。

Miki: The word できます means to be able to, to be possible, to be capable of.

Yuu: できます。

Miki: The pattern: take a noun, put the particle が in front of できます. Activity, then が, then できます. The particle が is there to mark what you can do.

Miki: 日本語ができます. I can speak Japanese.

Yuu: 日本語ができます。

Miki: にほんごができます. Notice が sitting right there between 日本語 and できます.

[listener practice pause]

Yuu: 日本語ができます。

Miki: The word スポーツ means sports. スポーツができます. I can play sports.

Yuu: スポーツができます。

Miki: できません means can't. Just like ます becomes ません — できます flips the same way to できません.

Yuu: できません。

Miki: When saying you can't, speakers often switch が to は — it adds a contrastive nuance.

Miki: 料理ができます. I can cook. Your turn.

[listener practice pause]

Yuu: 料理ができます。

Miki: 運転はできません. I can't drive.

Yuu: 運転はできません。

Miki: うんてんはできません. Notice how that は lands with just a little weight.

Yuu: スキーができません。

Miki: Soon we'll unlock a form that lets us chain actions side by side — but first, next episode we shift from 'I can' to 'let's do it together.' Practice at ji vix dot com. See you on げんきフロー.

---

Related Grammar#

• できます — Ability and Possibility
• ます Polite Verb Form
• する — The Do-Verb
• Particles が and は