かもしれない usage question


I'm having trouble parsing the second sentence said by B below:

A:「先生の仕事を始めましたね。どうですか？」

B:「先生は辞めました。ゴールデン街でお店を持てるかもしれないからです！」

The first sentence seems pretty clear to me (I quit my job as a teacher), but
I'm not sure I'm fully understanding the grammar of the second sentence. My
best guess is something like:

"It might be because I can have a store/bar at Golden Gai."

Some questions:

(1) I have seen in past threads here that「かもしれない」can be translated as "might
be", but it seems strange to me that you would express uncertainty about why
you quit a job. Is this the correct interpretation here? Or is the the
uncertainty actually about whether or not B can have a store in Golden Gai?

(2) What is the best way to interpret「持てる」in this context? Is it that B will
own/manage a bar? Or that they will work at a bar? Or that they're being
treated well at a bar?




> (1) I have seen in past threads here that「かもしれない」can be translated as "might
> be", but it seems strange to me that you would express uncertainty about why
> you quit a job. Is this the correct interpretation here? Or is the the
> uncertainty actually about whether or not B can have a store in Golden Gai?

It's the latter - B might be able to 持つ a store in Golden Gai. Actually,
`かもしれない` in this case is more of the possibility to 持つ, rather than the
possibility not to 持つ.

Let's dissect the two sentences. The first one:

> 先生は辞めました。

means, `(I) quit (being) a teacher.` The second one:

> ゴールデン街でお店を持てるかもしれないからです！
[code]

    Because (I) might 持つ a store in Golden Gai.
    
[/code]

I think it's clear now why B quit being a teacher, and that's because of the
possibility of 持つ a store.

> (2) What is the best way to interpret「持てる」in this context? Is it that B will
> own/manage a bar? Or that they will work at a bar? Or that they're being
> treated well at a bar?

持てる is the potential form of 持つ. 持つ, in the case of the store here could
either mean the following.

  1. Owning a store
  2. Owning and managing a store

It's not just working at a store or being treated well at one - there are no
clues to either of these in the sentences. Anyway, so going back to
`ゴールデン街でお店を持てるかもしれない`, it either means:

  1. B might be able to own a store in Golden Gai
  2. B might be able to own and manager a store in Golden Gai

I think it depends on what B really mean by 持てる whether it's 1 or 2, but it
should be safe to assume that B is _not just managing it_ for someone else who
actually owns it. It will be off topic to discuss this, but you could Google
the difference between 経営者 (manager) and オーナー (owner).




> (1) I have seen in past threads here that「かもしれない」can be translated as "might
> be", but it seems strange to me that you would express uncertainty about why
> you quit a job. Is this the correct interpretation here? Or is the the
> uncertainty actually about whether or not B can have a store in Golden Gai?

It's the latter - B might be able to 持つ a store in Golden Gai. Actually,
`かもしれない` in this case is more of the possibility to 持つ, rather than the
possibility not to 持つ.

Let's dissect the two sentences. The first one:

> 先生は辞めました。

means, `(I) quit (being) a teacher.` The second one:

> ゴールデン街でお店を持てるかもしれないからです！
[code]

    Because (I) might 持つ a store in Golden Gai.
    
[/code]

I think it's clear now why B quit being a teacher, and that's because of the
possibility of 持つ a store.

> (2) What is the best way to interpret「持てる」in this context? Is it that B will
> own/manage a bar? Or that they will work at a bar? Or that they're being
> treated well at a bar?

持てる is the potential form of 持つ. 持つ, in the case of the store here could
either mean the following.

  1. Owning a store
  2. Owning and managing a store

It's not just working at a store or being treated well at one - there are no
clues to either of these in the sentences. Anyway, so going back to
`ゴールデン街でお店を持てるかもしれない`, it either means:

  1. B might be able to own a store in Golden Gai
  2. B might be able to own and manager a store in Golden Gai

I think it depends on what B really mean by 持てる whether it's 1 or 2, but it
should be safe to assume that B is _not just managing it_ for someone else who
actually owns it. It will be off topic to discuss this, but you could Google
the difference between 経営者 (manager) and オーナー (owner).

