Explains how to make Potential Forms and their grammar and usage!

update date 2024/03/22

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Woman studying Potential Form in Japanese

How should we express the Potential Form, the equivalent of "can" or "able to" in English, in Japanese? This article explains the creation, grammar, and usage of the Potential Form in Japanese in an easy-to-understand manner for non-Japanese.

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Grammatical Rules for Potential Forms in Japanese

Note that the rules for Potential Form in Japanese differ slightly from those in English.

In the possible form in English, you can add "can" or "able to" before the verb, and the verb itself does not change. On the other hand, the possible form in Japanese is,Changing verbsThis is expressed by The two main changes are the pattern of changing "~ru" to "~eru" and "~u (u)" to "~eru (eru)". However, only "shiru" and "kuru" do not fall into this pattern, but have exceptional changes as "can" and "come," respectively.

Furthermore, the verb itself does not change,Add "to be able to" after the verbThere is also a way to add "can" to the back of the verb. Both ways of changing the verb and adding "can be" to the back have basically the same meaning.

【 Japanese possible form rule 】

Change "~ru" to "~able".
Change "~u" to "eru".
The only exceptions are "do" and "come."
Add "~ can be" at the back.

Four ways to make Potential Forms (Potential Forms in Japanese)

Here are four ways to master the possible forms in Japanese. These methods are the key to applying the possible form to any verb.

1. Pattern of changing "～ru" to "～iru".

Verbs ending in "る" change to "られる" to create the possible form.

For example, "eat" becomes "eaten" and "see" becomes "seen," and this change indicates that the verb is capable of doing something.

Native language	basic form	potential form
eat	Eat (taberu)	Edible (taberareru)
see, look, watch	See (miru)	Seen (mirareru)
wear, put on	Kiku (kiru)	Wearable (kirareru)
sleep	Sleep (neru)	Sleepable (nerareru)

Example sentences using "~able

Fuji." is changed to "We can watch Mt. Fuji." by changing "watch" to "can see.

The same is true for the possible form "We eat delicious foods." Change "eat" to "can eat" and the sentence becomes "We can eat delicious foods.

model sentence	romaji	Native language
Fuji.	Fujisan ga mirareru	We can watch Mt.
Delicious food available.	oishii ryouri wo taberareru	We can eat delicious foods.

Words without "rasen" are also often used.

Ra-nuki word" is a possible form of the words "eatable" and "seeable" by omitting the "la" from the words "eatable" and "seeable". Although "ra-nuki" is not grammatically correct, it is often used by Japanese people in their daily lives.

2. Pattern of changing "~u" to "~eru".

For verbs that end with a "u" (which in romaji ends in "u"), the "u" is changed to "eru" to create the possible form.

For example, "hanasu" becomes "hanaseru" by changing the final "u" to "eru", and "kaku" becomes "kakeru". This way, there are many words that end in "u". This method is applicable to many verbs ending in "u" and enriches the expressive power of the Japanese language.

Native language	basic form	potential form
talk, speak	Speak (hanasu)	Talking (hanaseru)
write	Write (kaku)	I can write (kakeru)
drink	Drink (nomu)	Drinkable (nomeru)
take	Toru (to take)	Toreru (toreru)

Example sentences using "~eru" (to be able to)

To make "I speak Japanese." into a possible form, change "speak" to "speak" and say "I can speak Japanese. In the same way, "I write Kanji." can be made into a possible form by changing "write" to "can write" and saying "I can write Kanji.

model sentence	romaji	Native language
I speak Japanese.	watashi wa nihongo wo hanaseru	I can speak Japanese.
I can write kanji.	watashi wa kanji wo kakeru	I can write Kanji.

3.【 exception 】 possible forms of "do" and "come"

Basically all verbs can be formed in the possible form in the two ways described up to the previous section, with the exception of "do" and "come". They are "can" and "can come" (or colloquially, "can come"), respectively. They change to "can come." These exceptions require special attention and are examples of the flexibility of the Japanese language.

Native language	basic form	potential form
do	Suru (suru)	Can be done (dekiru)
come	KURU (kuru)	Korareru

4. pattern with "~ can be done" at the end

In addition to changing the verb, you can indicate ability or possibility by adding "can" to the back of the verb. When "can" is added, the verb does not change.

For example, "eat" can mean the same thing as "can eat" if it is written as "can eat. Similarly, "to speak" and "to do" are equivalent to "to be able to speak" and "to do," respectively.

This expression is preferred in more formal contexts and written language, and has the versatility to accommodate a wide range of verbs.

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summary

This article explains the basic construction and usage of the Japanese Potential Form. The Japanese Potential Form, which has the same function as the English words "can" and "able to," is used to indicate whether something can be done. The main methods include changing "ru" verbs to "can", "u" verbs to "eru", and special variations of "do" and "come". The expression "can be" is another useful method that can be applied to all verbs.

By remembering these rules, you can greatly improve your ability to express yourself in Japanese. Possible forms are useful in a wide variety of situations, from daily conversation to formal documents, so make use of what you have learned this time to enrich your communication in Japanese.

If you would like to learn about other aspects of Japanese grammar, please refer to the following articles.
What are intransitive and transitive verbs in Japanese? Explaining the differences and how to distinguish between them for foreigners.