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This question first came to me when I saw the sentence:

私は懐中電灯が見つけられません。
I can't find my/the torch. (speaker is in the dark).

I am aware that られます is another way of saying able to but can you say

私は懐中電灯が見つけできません。

instead?

Can the two be used interchangeably?

Eddie Kal
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Tom Xia
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  • 見つけできません is ungrammatical. It should be 見つけることができません. See this link: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2689/%e3%81%93%e3%81%a8%e3%81%8c%e3%81%a7%e3%81%8d%e3%82%8b-versus-v%e3%81%88%e3%82%8b-form – user3856370 Dec 25 '21 at 10:45
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    @user3856370 - I don’t understand why that answer in the linked question got so many upvotes. – aguijonazo Dec 25 '21 at 12:50
  • @aguijonazo Hmm, maybe I should have read through all the answers before linking. I suspect that it's a combination of historical accumulation and the fact that it was endorsed by Derek Schaab who seems to have been a well respected contributor in the past. Would you say there was any element of truth to the most upvoted answer? – user3856370 Dec 25 '21 at 13:20
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    @user3856370 - No. – aguijonazo Dec 25 '21 at 17:03
  • Check this answer: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/39307/45630 – Nameless Dec 25 '21 at 19:14
  • OP, I think you need to rewrite your question. While the existing answer from @naruto is helpful, it ultimately doesn't address what you're wondering, which is actually the difference between ～(ら)れます and **Verb** +ことができます. – istrasci Dec 27 '21 at 20:25

1 Answers1

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懐中電灯が見つけできません is ungrammatical, because the only word できる can directly follow is a suru-verb such as 運転, 発見 and 勉強. 見つけ is not a suru-verb (you cannot say 見つけする).

If you really want to use both 見つける and できる, you have to say 懐中電灯を見つけることができません. In your case, it's simplest and most natural to say 懐中電灯が見つかりません.

naruto
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