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「何が釣れましたか」 evidently means "what were you able to catch (while fishing)?" in the context of https://youtu.be/7bLVtR7IgUo?t=172 at 2m52s.

But 釣れました ("was able to catch") is the passive potential of 釣る ("to catch"). So why doesn't this sentence actually mean "What (thing) was able to catch"? To me the sentence would make more sense if the verb was instead 釣られました (passive past), so that 「何が釣られました」 could translate to "What was caught?"

Is 釣れる an example of a passive-like verb?

George
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    It's not passive. It's just potential. – Leebo Jun 02 '23 at 00:09
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    I don't know what you are asking. Did the use of が confuse you? Have you learned the を-が conversion with potential verbs? – aguijonazo Jun 02 '23 at 00:15
  • @aguijonazo I'm not familiar with that, no. I am trying to figure out why 何 is marked as the subject of this sentence if 釣れる isn't functioning as a passive verb. It seems to me that the sentence only makes sense if 何が釣れました means "What (subject) was caught (passive)". – George Jun 02 '23 at 00:53
  • @aguijonazo Oh, I see. It simply means "What (subject) were you able to catch (potential past)". That makes perfect sense in English too but for some reason my brain was fixated on "What were you able to catch" (passive + potential past). I'll delete the question.

    EDIT: Now I'm starting to think this doesn't make sense either? If we stick to the present tense to make it easier: "何が釣れますか" seems to mean "What (subject) can-catch?" which is different from "What were you able to catch"? I'll check out the link you posted.

     – George Jun 02 '23 at 00:57
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    Does this help? The difference between が and を with the potential form of a verb – aguijonazo Jun 02 '23 at 01:02
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    Think of it more like "what was catchable (for you)?" – Karl Knechtel Jun 02 '23 at 09:19
  • @aguijonazo Does 何が釣れられる make any sense? (Conjugating to potential + passive)? Does it also mean "what was able to be caught?"? If so, what would be the difference between that and 何が釣れる? – George Jun 03 '23 at 03:20
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    No, it doesn’t. Theoretically, the passive-potential would be 釣られられる, but no one says it. This is the result of turning 釣る into the passive 釣られる first and then that into its potential form. The reverse order doesn’t work, not even theoretically. 釣られられる would refer to the fish’s ability to be caught, and this is precisely why no one says it. Being done something by someone or something is not usually regarded as your ability. Besides, you are not interested in the fish’s ability here. – aguijonazo Jun 03 '23 at 03:42
  • Does this answer your question? The difference between が and を with the potential form of a verb – naruto Jun 13 '23 at 03:30

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