The ren'youkei + える (eru) is the short potential form and is
translated as "to be able to" or "to can".
The ren'youkei + える (eru) can only be used with group 4 (or yodan
katsuyou) verbs. This combination further results in a contraction
where the final "i" from the ren'youkei form is dropped.
Group 2 verbs add ことができる (koto ga dekiru) to the rentaikei conjugation
to achieve the potential form, this form can also be applied to
group 4 verbs. For more information check the potential
forms page.
The contraction works as follows:
買い (kai = ren'youkei) → 買い+える
(kai +eru) → 買える (kaeru = short
potential form)
| Ren'youkei |
Ren'youkei + える (eru) |
| 買い |
(kai) |
買える |
(kaeru) |
| 書き |
(kaki) |
書ける |
(kakeru) |
| 泳ぎ |
(oyogi) |
泳げる |
(oyogeru) |
| 出し |
(dashi) |
出せる |
(daseru) |
| 待ち |
(machi) |
待てる |
(materu) |
| 死に |
(shini) |
死ねる |
(shineru) |
| 遊び |
(asobi) |
遊べる |
(asoberu) |
| 飲み |
(nomi) |
飲める |
(nomeru) |
| 入り |
(hairi) |
入れる |
(haireru) |
The addition える (eru) comes from the verb 得る (eru), meaning "to
acquire". The combination of 書く (kaku), meaning "to write",
and 得る (eru), meaning "to acquire", would translate to
"to acquire the writing" or "to be able to write".
When adding 得る (eru), a group 2 verb, to the ren'youkei the resulting
verbs are also conjugated as group 2 verbs. For the correct conjugations
please check the conjugations
page.
| |
日本でアメリカの車を買えますか。 (Nihon de Amerika no
kuruma wo kaemasu ka.)
Can you buy American cars in Japan?
ペンがあったら書けた。 (Pen ga attara kaketa.)
If I had a pen I would have been able to write it. |
| |
There exist a few verbs where no contractions occur:
あり得る (arieru) and 起こり得る (okorieru)
| |
それがあり得ない! (Sore ga arienai!)
That can't be! / That's impossible!
君にも起こり得る。 (Kimi ni mo okorieru.)
It can happen to you too. |
| |
Related pages:
Mizenkei
+ られる (rareru)
Potential
forms |
