How do I form the present negativeof a ru verb in its potential form?

Question

I understand the potential present affirmative.

For example, Taberu becomes taberareru.

Does that mean that  the negative potential present form of taberu is  taberaremasen?

 

Answer 1

All causative, passive, passive-causitive and potential forms of all Japanese verbs will behave exactly like any ichidan verb (verbs like miru and taberu).

Taberu - taberareru, taberarenai

Taberu - taberaremasu, taberaremasen

Answer 2

That is correct. Make sure you understand the meaning of taberareru. Taberareru means "to be able to eat" and Taberu means "to eat". Taberaremasen means "to be unable to eat". Usually, conjugated sentences formed from this ru words in present negative would be tabetewaikemasen.

Answer 3

Hey Sandy, it looks like the good folks have answered your question and provided some additional information. I did have one thing to add that I don't see here. You posted the potential positive verb taberareru which is in plain form. While, taberaremasen is a negative potential verb (not possible to eat), it is in polite form. Just to be clear the plain form negative potential verb would be taberarenai.

Answer 4

I am very impressed of everyone's knowledge of the Japanese language!  If I may throw in my two cents here to answer Susan's original question, I believe she was asking for the break down of the sentence conjugation parts.  So here it is:

 

Tabe          te                                                       wa(ha)        ike                         masen.

"To eat"     (present progressive indicator)   "is"               "permissible"      (strong negative.)

 

In a nut shell, the phrase, "...tewa ike masen" is translated as "shall not do...", and you will hear it often if you hang out with a parent with small children in Japan.  It does have a commanding tone to it, so you may want to avoid using it with your Japanese clients in your next business meeting :)

 

On a side note, the part "ike" is an interesting conjugation of "yoi" which means "good" or "permissible."  It sounds to me the combination of two words, "yoi" and "keredo" which means "however" or "opposed to."

 

I hope it makes sense.

 

 

Answer 5

Hi Sandy, I see Michael has kind of explain everything. So I'll just highlight something for you. The permissions endings he was talking about come it 2 forms. Possitive and negative. You have ~te mo ii desu (ka if you asking, but not if your giving permission), and ~te wa/ha ikemasen. So you can have sentences like this: terebi wo mite mo ii desuka? (can I see/watch tv?) Positive response: Hai ii desu. (or) Hai mite mo ii desu. (yes, it is ok/ yes you can watch tv) Negative response: iie. (or) iie, mite wa/ha ikemasen. (no/ no you cannot watch tv.)

Answer 6

Yes, that's right! Here's some examples if it helps it stick in. Once you get the potential form (taberu->taberareru) you basically just add endings on to describe past, negative, etc.

Sushi wo taberu = I eat sushi/I will eat sushi.
Sushi wo taberareru = I can eat sushi.
Sushi wo taberaremasen = I can't eat sushi.
Sushi wo taberaremashita = I could eat sushi
Sushi wo taberaremasendeshita = I couldn't eat sushi

(Michael N. is talking about people giving you permission to do things, as in "You're not allowed to eat sushi".)