Potential Forms of Verbs

Potential forms can be made (from dictionay forms) based on the following rule:

る-Verbs (Vowel Verbs):

Drop る and attach られる

  • 食べるー>食べられる
  • 見るー>見られる
  • 起きるー>起きられる
う-Verbs (Consonant Verbs):

Change the last hiragana to

the hiragana on the E-line

of the a-i-u-e-o chart.

Then, attach, える.

  • 書くー>書ける
  • 話すー>話せる
  • 待つー>待てる
Irregular Verbs

  • するー>できる
  • 来るー>来られる

When the potential form of a verb is used, the object marker を is changed into が. For instance, examine the following:

Note that all the potential forms belong to る-verbs (Vowel Verbs), and the conjugation of the potential form of a verb, whether the verb in question is originally る-type or う-type or irregular, is the same as that of る-verb.

(e.g.)