Potential and Causative form clarification - 倒せる / 倒せない


Hopefully this is a nice easy one, but it's something I need clarification on.
So I have a sentence here, using (I think) -せる form. (倒せない)

> アイテムを使わないと倒せない敵もいるが、戦いの基本はやはり剣だ。

My question is a general one - what does it mean when -せる form is used?

倒しません、 倒さない、 倒せない these are all the same meaning aren't they? Or not?




I don't know what you mean by "-せる" form.

-せる can appear at the end of the verb in at least two ways.

  * As the potential form of a verb, which ends in -す. 帰す -> 帰せる
  * As the causative form of a verb. 帰る -> 帰らせる

Here, -せる is the potential form of the verb 倒す, so

> 倒す "to throw over, to knock down"  
>  倒 **せ** る "to **be able to** throw over / knock down"  
>  倒せ **ない** " **not** to be able to throw over / knock down"

by which you get

> 倒しません e.g. I don't throw it over (polite)  
>  倒さない e.g. I don't throw it over (informal)  
>  倒 **せ** ません e.g. I **can't** throw it over (polite)  
>  倒 **せ** ない e.g. I **can't** throw it over (informal)




I don't know what you mean by "-せる" form.

-せる can appear at the end of the verb in at least two ways.

  * As the potential form of a verb, which ends in -す. 帰す -> 帰せる
  * As the causative form of a verb. 帰る -> 帰らせる

Here, -せる is the potential form of the verb 倒す, so

> 倒す "to throw over, to knock down"  
>  倒 **せ** る "to **be able to** throw over / knock down"  
>  倒せ **ない** " **not** to be able to throw over / knock down"

by which you get

> 倒しません e.g. I don't throw it over (polite)  
>  倒さない e.g. I don't throw it over (informal)  
>  倒 **せ** ません e.g. I **can't** throw it over (polite)  
>  倒 **せ** ない e.g. I **can't** throw it over (informal)

