られる
Japanese
Etymology
From Classical Japanese らる (raru), which followed 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) and attached to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of monograde, bigrade, カ行変格活用 (ka-gyō henkaku katsuyō, “k-irregular conjugation”), and サ行変格活用 (sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō, “s-irregular conjugation”) verbs.
As with other shimo nidan verbs, the original 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) らる (raru) was gradually lost as the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) らるる (raruru) came to be used for both functions, realigning the conjugations, and the conjugation type shifted to 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”), making the modern form られる (rareru).
Suffix
られる (ichidan conjugation, rōmaji -rareru)
- (jodōshi) Used to form the passive of verbs.
- Makes the passive voice.
- 昨日先生に褒められた。
- Kinō sensei ni homerareta.
- I was praised by my teacher yesterday.
- 昨日先生に褒められた。
- Makes the potential form; -able, -ible
- このキノコは食べられますか。
- Kono kinoko wa taberaremasu ka.
- Is this mushroom edible?
- このキノコは食べられますか。
- Shows a spontaneous action.
- Forms a light honorific expression.
- Makes the passive voice.
Conjugation
| Stem forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | られ | -rare | ||
| Continuative (連用形) | られ | -rare | ||
| Terminal (終止形) | られる | -rareru | ||
| Attributive (連体形) | られる | -rareru | ||
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | られれ | -rarere | ||
| Imperative (命令形) | られよ¹ られろ² | -rareyo¹ -rarero² | ||
| Key constructions | ||||
| Passive | － | － | ||
| Causative | － | － | ||
| Potential | － | － | ||
| Volitional | られよう | -rareyō | ||
| Negative | られない られぬ られん | -rarenai -rarenu -raren | ||
| Negative continuative | られず | -rarezu | ||
| Formal | られます | -raremasu | ||
| Perfective | られた | -rareta | ||
| Conjunctive | られて | -rarete | ||
| Hypothetical conditional | られれば | -rarereba | ||
| ¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative | ||||
Usage notes
Attaches only to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of Group II (ichidan) and Group III (irregular) verbs. The result is conjugated like a Group II (ichidan) verb.
- 起きる (okiru) → 起きられる (oki-rareru), 起きられます (oki-raremasu), etc.
- 食べる (taberu) → 食べられる (tabe-rareru), 食べられます (tabe-raremasu), etc.
- 来る (kuru) → 来られる (ko-rareru), 来られます (ko-raremasu), etc.
- する (suru) → (archaic) せられる (se-rareru), せられます (se-raremasu), etc.
The passive form of verbs from other conjugation classes are formed with れる (-reru) instead of られる (-rareru).
Recently in colloquial speech, られる (-rareru) used for the potential can be shortened to れる (-reru), e.g. 起きれる (okireru), 食べれる (tabereru), 来れる (koreru). This practice is called ら抜き言葉 (ra-nuki kotoba).
See also
- れる (-reru)