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For example, consider the two following options:

  • 日本語の本が読めたい。
  • 日本語の本が読むことができるになりたい。

Is the first construction valid? If so, how is it different from the second (in terms of meaning, formality, etc.)?

Marcus Emilsson
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1 Answers1

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Both sentences are ungrammatical. The correct forms are:

  • 日本語の本が読めるようになりたい。
  • 日本語の本を読むことができるようになりたい。

You cannot directly combine the the potential-form and the tai-form. You cannot combine the dictionary-form and になる, either. The workaround for both cases is ようになる. The usage is explained in many other pages including this.

Also note that 本が読むことができる is incorrect because 本が読むこと itself has no potential form. You have to say 本を読むことができる instead.

The difference between the two is fairly small, but please read: ことができる versus V~える form

naruto
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  • I've come across the ことができる versus V~える link several times before and I always leave feeling unsatisfied. The top rated answer makes quite a distinction between the uses, but you and others seem to downplay that difference. I'd be interested to know to what extent you agree with the top rated answer? – user3856370 Jan 07 '20 at 15:35
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    @user3856370 Um...I admit I linked to that question without reading seriously, but I think ことができる can refer to allowance/permission, too. For example it's not wrong to say ここでBBQをすることができますか instead of ここでBBQをしてもいいですか. At least in the OP's case, the difference is subtle. – naruto Jan 08 '20 at 01:33
  • Is that really true? I can find a lot of citations from what appear to be Japanese native speakers that use the desirative directly linked to the potential form all the time. “読めたい” has so many citations on google as do similar constructions with many other verbs. – Zorf Apr 10 '23 at 07:21
  • Followup, after some thinking this feels like things such as “ありたい”, “綺麗でありたい” or “早くありたい”, people say that “なりたい” must be used, but Japanese people do use them. I don't think rule that the tai-form can't be combined with stative verbs or adjectives without use of “なる” in between is all that followed in practice. – Zorf Apr 10 '23 at 07:48
  • @Zorf Why did you suddenly bring up ありたい? Who said ありたい is wrong? It's a perfectly correct expression and contains no potential form in the first place. 綺麗でありたい and 綺麗になりたい have completely different meanings. 読めたい is highly broken to say the least (my IME refuses to convert よめたい into 読めたい), and it's safe to say it's wrong to a beginner. – naruto Apr 10 '23 at 08:56
  • Because “ありたい” is also commonly said to be incorrect but occurs. And My ime accepts “読めたい” just fine. The rule that's often cited is that the tai-form cannot be used with stative verbs only with active verbs, and “ある” is stative, as is “読める”. But in practice both occur. You say “読めたい” is broken, and I was taught it was too, but I've seen it from time to time and it's easy to find native speakers using it. I bring them up because I feel that the difference between “読めたい” and “読めるようになりたい” carries a similar nuance difference as that between “綺麗でありたい” and “綺麗になりたい”. – Zorf Apr 10 '23 at 09:41
  • @Zorf According to my intuition as a native speaker, "綺麗でありたい" is a 100% correct and natural expression, and it would be strange if anyone doubted its correctness even a little. On the other hand, "(本を)読めたい" is clearly an unnatural expression. Top results on Google are obvious typos and incorrect examples from HiNative. Frankly, there is no value in comparing these at all. – naruto Apr 10 '23 at 09:56