Hmmm . . . this is nice but kind of scary at the same time.
できる
You can do it
おく
送ることができる
You can send it
- You would never hear or see a sentence that starts with just こと, which is ‘thing’ as in ‘event’ or ‘act’.
- So, if we want use a verb on another verb, we have to turn that other verb into a noun.
- In this case, it becomes the ‘act of sending’.
- が follows the subject.
- The が particle points out what can be done.
プレゼントを送ることができる
You can send presents
- The particle を marks the noun that is being acted on by the subject/topic.
- Someone is doing something (the verb) to something (the noun).
ともだち
友達などにプレゼントを送ることができる
You can send presents to friends and others
- The particle など can only follow nouns.
- など is used when you’re providing an example from an item category, which can be left out.
- The particle に stands for ‘in,’ ‘at,’ ‘on’ or ‘to.’
- In the context of this sentence, ‘to’ makes the most sense.
し
知らない友達などにプレゼントを送ることができる
You can send presents to friends and others you don’t know
- Whenever you see a plain/casual negative form of a verb in front of a noun, the verb or verb phrase is giving more details about that noun.
- You can think of it as answering the question: what kind of friends and others?
じゅうしょ
住所を知らない友達などにプレゼントを送ることができる
You can send presents to friends and others whose addresses you don’t know