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I could not help but notice that adjectives cannot directly conjugate to have
a potential form:

> E.g. `赤い` **does not** become `赤られる` for (can be red)

**(Question)** Which of the below are acceptable forms to convey a potential
for adjectives? What about な-adjectives?:

>   * 赤く出来る (using potential-form of する)
>
>   * 赤くなれる (using potential-form of なる) (This seems to mean "can become red"
> which is so very different from "can be red")
>
>   * EDIT: 赤いがなり得る (I found this construction, I'm not sure what it does and
> how different it is from 赤くなれる and 赤くなり得る)
>
>   * 赤いことができる (Using the sentence pattern ～ことができる)
>
>

>
> I also thought about using the copula but there isn't any potential form for
> だ/です. Unless it's であられる?
>
>   * Would 赤いであられる make sense for "can be red" ?
>
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2011-11-19T13:26:01.810
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question
adjectives potential-form
How to construct potential form for adjectives
It depends on what you mean by “potential form.”

Both れる/られる and ことができる are attached to a verb and their basic meaning is “have
the ability to do.” (れる/られる has very different meanings such as passive and
respect, but I ignore them for the purpose of this answer.) Because they are
about the ability, the subject is usually animate.

The combination of ある+られる would be あられる, but this combination is ungrammatical
for a reason I do not know.

Although the meaning of れる/られる/ことができる has large overlap with the meaning of
“can” in English, it does not cover the usage of “can” in “can be red” (= may
be red; possibly be red).

“Possibly” can be translated as “～可能性がある” as cypher wrote in a comment, or
“～かもしれない.” Therefore, “can be red” is 赤い可能性がある or 赤いかもしれない. Although 可能性がある
and かもしれない are not completely the same, I am not prepared to explain the
difference now.

Below I will try to explain whether each of your examples is grammatical or
not and what its meaning is.

  * 赤くする is “redden (something),” and 赤くできる (or 赤く出来る, although できる in this usage is usually written in hiragana) is “have the ability of redden (something).”
  * 赤くなれる is “have the ability to turn red,” but I do not know when it can be used.
  * 赤くなりうる is “possibly turn red.” Unlike 可能性がある and かもしれない, [得]{う}る in this meaning can be only attached to a verb.
  * 赤いがなり得る is ungrammatical because 赤いがなる is ungrammatical.
  * 赤いことができる is ungrammatical because ことができる can be only attached to a verb as I wrote above.
  * 赤いであられる is ungrammatical for two reasons: 赤いである is ungrammatical, and the combination あられる is somehow ungrammatical as I wrote above.
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answer