～られる・～える (可能)

RuleVerb potential form (~rareru/~eru): "can do." More common in speech than koto ga dekiru.

Curiosity

You learned "koto ga dekiru." How do you make the shorter, more conversational "can do"?

Intuition

You re-dress the verb itself in "ability." Once it is potential, the object is usually marked with ga, not o (sashimi ga taberareru).

Visualization

nomu (drink) → nomeru (can drink). Shift the u-row to the e-row and add ru.

飲むdictionary (drink)

Essence

Ichidan: ~ru → ~rareru (taberu → taberareru; casual "ra-less" tabereru). Godan: shift the u-row to the e-row + ru (kaku → kakeru, nomu → nomeru). Irregular: suru → dekiru, kuru → korareru. For ichidan, where this overlaps the passive, context distinguishes them.

Examples

私は日本語が話せる。

I can speak Japanese.

漢字が読めますか。

Can you read kanji?

辛いものが食べられない。

I cannot eat spicy food.

Mini-quiz

What is the potential form of "kaku" (to write)?