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When using the potential form of a verb, I was taught that the particle を
becomes が. However, in real life this seems to not always be the case. I've
even heard Japanese people use を instead of が quite often.

What's the difference between the following two sentences? Is を actually
grammatically correct?

> ここで切符が買えますか？
>
> ここで切符を買えますか？
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grammar particles particle-が particle-を potential-form
The difference between が and を with the potential form of a verb
In the が + potential construction, the focus is on the noun.

> 新聞が読める (what I am able to read is newspapers [as opposed to other written
> media])
>
> ここで切符が買えますか (is this where tickets [as opposed to other items for sale] can
> be bought?)

In the を + potential construction, the focus is on the entire phrase.

> 新聞を読める (what I am able to do is read newspapers)
>
> ここで切符を買えますか (is this where I am able to buy tickets [as opposed to doing
> some other action]?)

を + potential is not yet considered standard, but has begun to gain acceptance
among some speakers.

(Paraphrased from _Japanese: The Spoken Language_ )
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2011-06-05T04:41:21.823
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answer
A well known difference (noticed by Tada 1992) is the scope of the quantifiers
in relevant positions.

> 田中は小指だけを曲げられる  
>  'It is possible for Tanaka to bend only the pinky finger without bending
> the other fingers.'  
>  'It is only the pinky finger that Tanaka can bend.' (Marginal)
>
> 田中は小指だけが曲げられる  
>  'It is only the pinky finger that Tanaka can bend.'
>
> 夕食には二人だけを招待出来る  
>  'It is possible to exclusively invite two people to dinner without
> companions.'  
>  'There are only two people that I can invite to the dinner.' (Marginal)
>
> 夕食には二人だけが招待出来る  
>  'There are only two people that I can invite to the dinner.'
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According to Hamano and Tsujioka (2011), the difference between を and が with
the potential form is that を has a slightly stronger sense of volition than が
does. They give the examples

**A:** 阿部さんは英語 **を** 話せます。  
**B:** 阿部さんは英語 **が** 話せます。  
and they translate both sentences as "Mr. Abe can speak English".

According to their definition, sentence A has a stronger sense of Mr. Abe's
volition when speaking, giving it a sense of a more deliberate action. On the
other hand, sentence B would have a stronger nuance of a natural ability with
less volition than sentence A.

_(Basic Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook)_
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