Newbie Japanese learner here. I’ve seen several patterns that seem to equate to “can” in English and I’m a bit unclear about when they should be used. In some places I’ve seen verbs conjugated with the letter -e and in other places I’ve seen the pattern verbことができる. E.g “Can you swim?” being either “泳げるか？” or “泳ぐことができるか？”. Which pattern should be used in which situation and are there any other ways of expressing ability to do something?
Thanks!
by RadioLiar