出来る Usage Question

Japanese
#1

I’m doing Bunpro and Wanikani at the same time, and recently I’ve encountered 出来る on both. Wanikani says it means “to be ready; to be made; to be able to do,” which seems consistent with other definitions I’ve seen online. Example sentences such as “見ることが出来る” (to be able to see) and “スポーツが出来る” (to be able to play sports).

This was all fine until I hit this example sentence on Bunpro: " 彼女が出来てからどんどんお金が減っていく" (translated as: since I got a girlfriend, my cash has been rapidly decreasing.). Would this be more literally translated as, “since I was able to get a girlfriend,” implying that getting the girlfriend is an achievement? Wanikani also says this verb is super common and has a wide range of meanings, so I would appreciate any input anyone has on the range of its usage.

Thanks in advance!

#2

彼女／彼氏ができる means get a girlfriend / boyfriend, literally “make a girlfriend / boyfriend”

できる can mean to make or finish something この机は木でできている。ケーキができた。

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#3

You can also use 出来る to say something grew/formed in your body or on something, like a tumor, pimples, spots, wrinkles, etc. It’s also used to say you were able to get pregnant. That a place, like a shop/restaurant, opened, etc, etc.

BTW, 出来る is not just used for getting a boyfriend/girlfriend, but also friends in general too. There are many different ways to use it, as you said. This website explains all the ways you can use 出来る:

https://maggiesensei.com/2015/04/02/how-to-use-出来る-できる-dekiru/

HTH!

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#4

Thank you! That link is very comprehensive (and a little intimidating). I think I understand a bit better now!

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#5

出来る is a little special because it is used instead of whatever the potential form of する would be (I.e., it is used to mean “can do”) but it also maintains it’s original meaning and associated meanings which are all associated with “coming out” (look at the kanji). So things like manifesting, appearing, positive results, being made etc are all associated with it. The “can do” meaning also comes from this although the logic is a little convoluted.

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#6

Yeah sometimes you need to thing about the abstract concept behind a word rather than clinging to translations (I know, easier said than done especially when beginning).

You can see that all the meanings of 出来る have this “managing to do something” general idea. Sometimes it’s actually about doing the action (like when a meal has been prepared, or you got yourself a girlfriend), sometimes it’s just about the potential (to be able to do something, but not necessarily doing it at the moment). Actually you can also think of 出来る as the potential form of する, but I don’t think it helps all that much…

I think beyond that to really get a feel for it you have to practice a lot and there’s no forcing it. It’s like in English: “you cook rice”, “you bake a cake”, “you do the dishes”, “you make eye contact”, “you do the talking”, “you make small-talk”…

If you say “I cook a cake” or “I do eye contact” it makes sense, but it’s weird (I think, I’m not a native). All languages have idiomatic turns of phrases like that that you need to get used to, but there’s no need to actively learn it, you’ll just get used to it after a while.

Don’t worry too much about getting all the subtleties of the vocab you learn through WaniKani or Bunpro, as long as you get the rough general meaning that’ll be enough to bootstrap your comprehension as you start consuming native content.

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#7

Such a good word for it!

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