The following sentence was from a group chat, and I felt like the usage of ながら
here was a bit odd:

> 歩きながらメッセージを送れない。
>
> I can't send messages while I'm walking.

I felt it was odd as I always assumed that the verb following ながら cannot
describe a state and has to be a dynamic verb. I also thought that perhaps 間
would be preferable here instead of ながら?

Could someone please tell me if my assumption is wrong, and if the sentence is
actually both valid and natural?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-16T17:59:38.540
87521
2021-12-30T02:22:42.123
45573
question
potential-form
Can a potential verb be used with ながら meaning during/while?
Your sentence doesn't quite sound right to me, although I can't quite point to
a grammar rule to explain why. You might be correct in assuming that the
potential form of the main verb renders it as a stative verb and doesn't sit
right with the ～ながら. However, I think that if you insert a topic marker は then
the sentence would work.

歩きながら **は** メッセージが送れない。
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-16T23:05:30.220
87523
2021-07-16T23:05:30.220
25875
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answer
The person who said that may have meant to add the sense of potentiality to
the whole act of 歩きながらメッセージを送る. Though it sounds incomplete as an independent
sentence, it doesn’t sound particularly unnatural in a subordinate clause
(provided it is not a quote).

> 歩きながらメッセージを送れないのは当然だ。

> 歩きながらメッセージを送れないことはない。

> 歩きながらメッセージを送れないなら、立ち止まればいい。

As an independent sentence, the following sounds more correct and more
natural.

> 歩きながらメッセージを送ることはできない。
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-18T07:51:37.500
87540
2021-12-30T02:22:42.123
2021-12-30T02:22:42.123
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43676
87521
answer