られる（可能） details

Examples

can do — a person's learned or physical ability

弟おとうと、もう自転車じてんしゃに乗のれるんだよ。

otouto, mou jitensha ni noreru n da yo.

My little brother can already ride a bike, you know. casual

姉あねは韓国語かんこくごが話はなせる。

ane wa kankokugo ga hanaseru.

My older sister can speak Korean. neutral

can be done — the situation or the thing itself permits it, feasibility rather than skill

この美術館びじゅつかんでは、フラッシュなしなら写真しゃしんが撮とれます。

kono bijutsukan de wa, furasshu nashi nara shashin ga toremasu.

In this museum you can take photos as long as you don't use flash. neutral

チケットは発売日はつばいびの朝あさ十時じゅうじから購入こうにゅうできます。

chiketto wa hatsubaibi no asa juuji kara kounyuu dekimasu.

Tickets can be purchased from ten in the morning on the release date. formal

Formation

G1 え段＋る（書く→書ける）／G2 られる（食べる→食べられる）／する→できる／来る→こられるattaches to verb stem (class-specific)

Notes

Objects usually shift to が: ピアノが弾ける. Colloquial ら抜き (見れる・食べれる) drops ら from G2 potentials — very common in speech, still marked in careful writing, and it handily disambiguates potential from passive.

Related patterns

Similar

ことができる
Same ability, two builds — ことができる is periphrastic, works on every verb without class rules, and skews formal/written (notices, contracts, announcements); the one-word potential (読める・食べられる) is the spoken default, so 泳ぐことができる in conversation sounds like a posted sign.

Lookalikes

られる（受身）
For G2 verbs the two are one homograph — 食べられる is "can eat" or "is eaten", and only particles and context decide (刺身が食べられる ability, 猫に刺身を食べられた suffered loss); G1 keeps them apart — 読める can, 読まれる passive.

Same meaning

can do

Pattern	Attaches to
ことができる