62649
I am learning japanese grammar via Tae Kim
(<http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar>). I read that to change a
u-verb to potential form, replace the -u ending with a -e ending and add -ru.
For example 持てる or 待てる to mean can hold or can wait.

The same verb 持つ, when conjugated to its continuous tense becomes 持っている, which
is sometimes simplified to 持てる. I feel like this causes ambiguity, for
example, ペンは持てる can mean "I am holding a pen" or "I can hold a pen". The
question is, how does one distinguish between the 2 meanings, or is there a
completely different way to say these things? I read that the topic particle
(を) cannot be used with the potential form of verb, so if the sentence changes
to ペンを持てる, it would most likely mean "I am holding a pen", but when the
particle is は, it is unclear, at least to me
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-05T07:31:36.610
62648
2018-11-05T07:43:32.480
31222
question
potential-form
is 持てる potential form or continuous tense
First, "持っている" can never be simplified to "持てる". The former one "持っている", or
sometimes "持ってる" for simplified one is "have something right now", but the
latter one "持てる" is "able to have".

Second, "を" can be used both potential and continuous. So as I explained
above, "ペンを持っている" means "is having a pen" and "ペンを持てる" is "can have a pen"
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-05T07:43:32.480
62649
2018-11-05T07:43:32.480
62648
answer