Background: I’ve just recently learnt potential forms.
I’ve noticed that people seem to usually use 聞こえますか when asking whether they can be heard.
Is there a reason why it is not 聞こえられますか?
Shouldn’t we convert 聞こえる to the potential form (聞こえられる)?
Hi!
These are the notes I have in the 聞こえる grammar point:
聞こえる is an intransitive (自動詞) verb, and literally means ‘to give off sound’. When using 聞こえる , (A) will always be followed by が .
The primary difference between 聞こえる , and 聞ける (the potential form of 聞く), is that 聞こえる is used to identify things that do not require the active concentration of the listener to be heard.
The verbs 聞こえる , 見える , as well as other similar looking verbs such as 燃える and 消える also express 自発 (spontaneity). So, we’ll call these verbs 自発動詞 .
As for 聞こえられる, it wouldn’t make sense as it would show the potential to do something that happens spontaneously.
When used thus, they are merely asking if the sound carries through.
HTH!
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Really insightful.
If I’m understanding this right, it would be like if we took the English word “Audible” and made it, “Can be audible,” which while grammatically correct is a startling nuanced form in actual use.
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