彼にはこの仕事をするだけの力がある。

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1
English Translation

He only has enough ability to do this job.

Is this praise or a put down? Does he have enough ability to do this complicated and difficult job? Or, as the English translation implies, does he have enough ability to do this relatively easy job but nothing more complicated or difficult?

#2

@Terence
Good catch! The Japanese sentence is praise or neutral.

  • As praise: “He is so capable that he can handle this kind of (difficult/complicated) task.”
  • Neutral: “He has enough ability to handle this task.” (we don’t know how complicated the task is, but the sentence simply equalizes the requirement and his current capability.)

As a put down, “He only has enough ability to do this job” is 彼はこの程度の仕事しか捌けない (pron. さばけない). We usually use negation (しか～ない) in such a negative context.