彼は日本語だけでなく英語も話せます。
- He can speak not only Japanese but also English.
This Japanese sentence "彼は日本語だけでなく英語も話せます。" means "He can speak not only Japanese but also English." in English. It is an N2 Low-level example sentence.
Words Contained
AI Explanation
彼は日本語だけでなく英語も話せます。 meaning: He can speak not only Japanese but also English.
⚫︎ The basic sentence structure in Japanese is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). ⚫︎ The sentence begins with the subject, 彼 (かれ), meaning "he". ⚫︎ The topic of the sentence, indicating what the sentence is about, is marked by the particle は (wa). This is understood as "As for him...". ⚫︎ 日本語 (にほんご), meaning "Japanese," and 英語 (えいご), meaning "English," are the objects of the verb. ⚫︎ The verb 話せます (はなせます), meaning "can speak," comes at the end.
⚫︎ This is a very common N2-level grammar point, indicating addition or emphasis. ⚫︎ It means "not only... but also..." or "as well as..." ⚫︎ The structure is: [Noun/Adjective Stem/Verb (plain form)] + だけでなく (dake de naku)+ [Noun/Adjective/Verb (plain form)] + も (mo). ⚫︎ 日本語だけでなく英語も (nihongo dake de naku eigo mo) translates to "not only Japanese but also English". ⚫︎ The use of も (mo) after the second element emphasizes that the second item is also included.
⚫︎ 話せます (hanasemasu) is the potential form of the verb 話す (hanasu), meaning "to speak". ⚫︎ To form the potential form: * For Ru-verbs (verbs ending in -る (ru)), replace る (ru) with られる (rareru). (e.g., 食べる (taberu) → 食べられる (taberareru)) * For U-verbs (verbs ending in -う (u), -く (ku), -す (su), -つ (tsu), -ぬ (nu), -む (mu), -ぶ (bu), -ぐ (gu), -る (ru) ), change the final vowel sound to the corresponding "e" sound and add ます (masu). (e.g., 話す (hanasu) → 話せます (hanasemasu)) * Irregular verbs: 来る (kuru) becomes 来られる (korareru) (potential form). する (suru) becomes できる (dekiru). ⚫︎ The potential form expresses the ability to do something or possibility.
⚫︎ は (wa): The topic marker, as mentioned earlier, indicating the subject of the sentence. ⚫︎ の (no): Not used in this sentence. ⚫︎ に (ni): Not used in this sentence. ⚫︎ で (de): Not used in this sentence. ⚫︎ も (mo): Indicates "also" or "too." It replaces the particle that would normally follow the word, in this case, the topic particle は (wa). It shows that something is being added to a previous concept. ⚫︎ を (o): The object marker, used to indicate the direct object of a transitive verb. Not directly used with the verbs of speaking.
⚫︎ 話せます (hanasemasu) ends with the polite auxiliary verb ます (masu). ⚫︎ ます (masu) is used to make the verb polite. ⚫︎ It indicates the speaker is being respectful or formal. ⚫︎ The plain form of the verb plus ます (masu) is a standard way of speaking in many situations.