Why is こと used in 「私に何かできること」？


How does it turn this into a noun clause? All I get from it is “I can do
something” but I don’t see where こと fits in.![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rORKB.jpg)




私に何かできること translates to a noun phrase "something I can do". This こと is not a
particle but a simple noun meaning "thing". And 私に何かできる is a **relative
clause** that modifies こと. This seems to be the first time you asked about
relative clauses on this site, but real Japanese sentences are full of
relative clauses, and you probably have seen this construction before.

Let's start from this sentence:

> 私には医療通訳ができる。  
>  I can do medical translation.

In case you're not sure what this に is doing, see: [Why say "〜、皆には出来る。"
instead of " 〜、皆は出来る。" in this
context?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/36481/5010)

Next, with [the basic grammar of relative
clauses](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14550/5010) in mind, you can
form the following noun phrase from the first sentence:

> 私にできること  
>  the thing I can do

So I changed 医療通訳 to こと, and pulled it out to the end of the sentence. I also
changed には to に.

何か [is an _adverb_](https://jisho.org/word/%E4%BD%95%E3%81%8B) rather than a
noun here. It adds the meaning of "some", "something", "somehow", etc. (e.g.,
何か本を読もう = "I'll read some book", 何か単語を言ってください = "Say some (random) word.")

> 私に何かできること  
>  something I can do

Finally, I feel this is **not** something this (seemingly Japanese) lady is
_saying_ to the other people. Saying "Something I can do!" suddenly to people
around you makes no sense. So it's either a catchphrase of this ad or what she
is _thinking_ , i.e., "(So this is) something I can do!". If you're interested
in how to say "Can I help you" in Japanese, see: [Can I help
you?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1465/5010)




私に何かできること translates to a noun phrase "something I can do". This こと is not a
particle but a simple noun meaning "thing". And 私に何かできる is a **relative
clause** that modifies こと. This seems to be the first time you asked about
relative clauses on this site, but real Japanese sentences are full of
relative clauses, and you probably have seen this construction before.

Let's start from this sentence:

> 私には医療通訳ができる。  
>  I can do medical translation.

In case you're not sure what this に is doing, see: [Why say "〜、皆には出来る。"
instead of " 〜、皆は出来る。" in this
context?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/36481/5010)

Next, with [the basic grammar of relative
clauses](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14550/5010) in mind, you can
form the following noun phrase from the first sentence:

> 私にできること  
>  the thing I can do

So I changed 医療通訳 to こと, and pulled it out to the end of the sentence. I also
changed には to に.

何か [is an _adverb_](https://jisho.org/word/%E4%BD%95%E3%81%8B) rather than a
noun here. It adds the meaning of "some", "something", "somehow", etc. (e.g.,
何か本を読もう = "I'll read some book", 何か単語を言ってください = "Say some (random) word.")

> 私に何かできること  
>  something I can do

Finally, I feel this is **not** something this (seemingly Japanese) lady is
_saying_ to the other people. Saying "Something I can do!" suddenly to people
around you makes no sense. So it's either a catchphrase of this ad or what she
is _thinking_ , i.e., "(So this is) something I can do!". If you're interested
in how to say "Can I help you" in Japanese, see: [Can I help
you?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1465/5010)

