Learn Japanese with Ghibli Quotes: How Can I Say ‘I Wonder If I Could…’ (Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind)

みなさんこんにちは! Welcome to Sakura Neko’s Japanese Study Room, where you can learn Japanese from anime quotes! Today’s topic is 風の谷のナウシカ (Kaze no Tani no Naushika: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind).

In this article, we will look at a quote from Nausicaä, and you will learn Japanese skills relating to…

✅How to say ‘I wonder if I could’

✅How to make the potential form (to do VS can do)

Today’s Quote

すごい目め。これひとつなら持もって飛とべるかな?

Sugoi me. Kore hitotsu nara motte toberu kana

I wonder if I could fly back home with this.

Vocabulary in this quote:

すごい目 (sugoi me): ‘What an eye!’

これ (kore): This

ひとつ (hitotsu): One

なら (nara): If, in that case that…

持って (motte) [the て form of 持つ (motsu)、持ちます(mochimasu)]: to hold, to have, to posess

飛べる (toberu)[the potential form of 飛ぶ(tobu)]: to fly

かな (kana): ‘I wonder…’

In the quote, Nausicaä says 「これひとつならkore hitotsu nara」. This can be translated into ‘if one’, as in ‘if I only take (not two or three, but just) one of them’.

Saying ‘I wonder if I could…’ in Japanese

To express that whether you could so something or not, you can use this pattern!

To apply this in the quote,

Ex: この電車でんしゃで、東京とうきょうまで行けるかな。

kono densha de, toukyou made ikerukana

I wonder if I could go to Tokyo with this train.

これ、食たべられるかな。

kore, taberareru kana

I wonder if I can eat this.

明日あしたの試合しあい、勝かてるかな。

ashita no shiai, kateru kana

I wonder if I could win tomorrow’s match.

Some of you may be able to recognise this scene from Hayate the Combat Butler.

「できるかな」じゃない。やるんだよ。

「dekirunaka」 janai. yarun dayo

It’s not ‘I wonder if I could’. Just do it.

You can use this 「かな」suffix to express uncertainty, and it doesn’t always have to be about whether you could do something.

Ex あの人は、日本人にほんじんかな。

ano hito wa nihon jin kana

I wonder if that person over there is a Japanese person.

How To Say ‘Can Do’ As Opposed To ‘To Do’

In the quote, Nausicaä says 「飛とべるかな」.「飛べる」is the potential form of 「飛ぶ」(to fly). The potential form expresses the ability to do something (as in ‘can do’).

Here, I will explain how to change a potential form out of a ます form verb.

If your verb has a -imasu ending:

1️⃣Change the vowel before the ます from ‘i’ to ‘e’. (Ex飲みます nomimasu/ to drink→飲めます nomemasu / can drinnk).

2️⃣If you swap the ます with る you will have the plain (casual) version of the potential form (Ex 飲みます→飲める).

Ex

勝ちます (kachimasu / to win)→勝てます (katemasu) or 勝てる (kateru / can win)

買います→買えます (kaemasu) or 買える (kaeru / can buy)

使います→使えます (tsukaimasu) or 使える (tsukaeru)

If your verb has an -emasu ending:

1️⃣Swap the ます with られます. (Ex 食べる taberu / to eat → 食べられます taberaremasu / can drink).

2️⃣If you swap られます with られる you will havethe plain (casual) version of the potential form (Ex 食べられます → 食べられる)

⭐️ If a verb has only one hiragana character (even if this hiragana has an ‘i’ sound), then treat this verb as this group [Ex 見ます (mimasu / to see) → 見られます (miraremasu)・見られる(mirareru / can see)].

⭐️ There are some verbs that have an i-masu ending but follow the rules in this group [Ex 起きます (okimasu / to wake up)→起きられます (okiraremasu)・起きられる (okirareru / can wake up), 借ります (karimasu / to borrow) → 借りられます (kariraremasu)・借りられる(karirareru / can borrow)]

If your verbs are します or 来ます:

You will have to memorise these verbs individually:

1️⃣します (shimasu) → できます (dekimasu) or できる (dekiru)

2️⃣来ます (kimasu) → 来られます (koraremasu) or 来られる (korareru)

Summary – まとめ

To summarise, this article explained how to use the Japanese expression: ‘I wonder if I could’, focusing on the quote by Nausicaä.

In summary, we talked about how to make a causative form verb in Japanese, and looked at a breakdown of Chihiro’s phrase. I hope you found this helpful! If you liked this post, make sure you check out other articles as well! You can also find more phrases from my twitter account. 

じゃあ、みなさんさようなら！