ようV／ようVへん／ようVん

youV/youVhen/youVn

Common uses

• Potential

Grammar elements

• ようV／ようVん／ようVへん

Unlike standard Japanese, there are two types of potential form^? depending on the situation: ability potential and situational potential. The ability potential, ようV, is often used with question and negative (the negative form is ようVへん and ようV). The situational potential is the same as in standard Japanese.

Kansai-ben vs. Standard

Ability potential

	Affirmative	Negative
Standard	V? (potential)	V (potential) ない
Kansai-ben	ようV (dictionary)	ようV (negative stem?) へん ようV (negative stem) ん

Situational potential

	Affirmative	Negative
Standard	V? (potential)	V (potential) ない
Kansai-ben	V (potential)	V (potential) へん V (potential) ん

From Standard Japanese

Ability potential

	Affirmative	Negative
Standard	言える	言えない
Kansai-ben	よう言う	よう言わへん よう言わん

Situational potential

	Affirmative	Negative
Standard	言える	言えない
Kansai-ben	言える	言えへん 言えん

Examples

Ability potential

ようV

Standard	英語、話せる？
Kansai-ben	英語、よう話すか？
English	Can you speak in English?

ようVへん

Standard	うちの弟、よう泳がへんねん。
Kansai-ben	私の弟、泳げないんだ。
English	My younger brother can't swim.

ようVん

Standard	足痛いから、走れないよ。
Kansai-ben	足痛いよって、よう走らんわ。
English	I can't run because my legs hurt.

Situational potential

ようVん

Standard	それはひみつだから、言えないんだ。
Kansai-ben	それはひみつやから、言えへんねん。
English	I can't tell you because it's a secret.

Commentary

The difference between ようVへん and ようVん

While ようVへん is used when the subject is third person (he/she/it), ようVん is mainly used when the subject is first person (I). It should be noted that ようVん can be used with questions when the subject is the second person (you).

Subjectivity with ようV and ようVん

ようVん is used not only with the ability negative potential but also when expressing disgust, blame, and surprise. In the latter case, the よう in ようVん is the same meaning of よく in standard Japanese.

disgust/blame

Standard	そんな恥ずかしいことよくできるね。
Kansai-ben	そんな恥ずかしいことようするなあ。
English	I can't do that--it would be so embarrassing.

surprise

Standard	君、よく食べるねえ。
Kansai-ben	あんた、よう食べるなあ。
English	You sure do eat a lot.

disgust/blame

Standard	そんなひどいことできないよ。
Kansai-ben	そんなえげつないことようせんわ。
English	I couldn't do something that awful.

よう言わんわ

The common phrase "よう言わんわ" does not just mean to "not have much to say", but implies that the speaker is strongly disgusted and they have nothing to say about the topic.

Standard	あいつ、またうわきしたのか。もう、何も言う言葉がないよ。
Kansai-ben	あいつ、またうわき*しよったんか。もう、よう言わんわ。
English	Has he been cheating again? I don't have anything more to say (about that).

*うわき = unfaithful; cheat on someone

When to use V^? (potential) へん and V (potential) ん

Only V (potential) へん and V (potential) ん can be used when the speaker wants to do something but they are unable to. ようVへん and ようVん cannot be used in that case.

V (potential) へん

Standard	今、ダイエット中だから、甘いもの食べられないんだ。
Kansai-ben	今、ダイエット中やから、甘いもん食べられへんねん。
English	Since I'm on a diet, I can't have anything sweet.