Potential Form — Can / Be Able To (Verbs)

Conjugates a verb to mean 'can / be able to do it'. It expresses ability or possibility built directly into the verb.

Structure

U-verb: final -u → -eru (読む→読める). Ru-verb: drop る + られる (食べる→食べられる). Irregular: する→できる, 来る→来られる.

Examples

漢字が読めます。

Kanji ga yomemasu.

I can read kanji.

読む (u-verb) → 読める (potential) → 読めます (polite)

早く起きられません。

Hayaku okiraremasen.

I can't wake up early.

起きる (ru-verb) → 起きられる → 起きられません (polite negative)

この店で日本料理が食べられます。

Kono mise de Nihon ryouri ga taberaremasu.

You can eat Japanese food at this restaurant.

食べる (ru-verb) → 食べられる (potential) → 食べられます (polite)

• Particle shift: with the potential form the object particle を usually becomes が — 本を読む → 本が読める ('the book is readable to me'). • ら-dropping: in casual speech ru-verb potentials often drop the ら — 食べられる → 食べれる, 見られる → 見れる.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones Potential is tested against.

vs できる / ことができる

できる expresses ability with a noun (or via ことができる); the potential form conjugates the verb directly (読める) and is more common in everyday speech.

vs Passive form (〜られる)

Ru-verbs and 来る share one form for potential and passive (食べられる, 来られる); tell them apart by context — potential = 'can', passive = 'is done to'.

More verb forms

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