What is the Potential Form?
The potential form lets you say you can or can't do something. "I can speak Japanese," "can you swim?," "I can't eat spicy food". All potential form territory.
It's more casual and natural-sounding than the alternative ことができます pattern. In everyday conversation, Japanese speakers almost always reach for the potential form over the longer construction. Our lesson on expressing ability covers both the potential form and できる side by side. And if you're interested in expressing what you want to be able to do, our guide on how to say "I want" in Japanese covers たい and 欲しい.
Conjugation Rules
U-verbs (Group I)
Change the final kana from the う-row to the え-row, then add る:
| Dictionary | Potential |
|---|---|
| 行く (iku) | 行ける |
| 話す (hanasu) | 話せる |
| 読む (yomu) | 読める |
| 買う (kau) | 買える |
| 泳ぐ (oyogu) | 泳げる |
| 待つ (matsu) | 待てる |
The pattern: く→ける, す→せる, む→める, う→える, ぐ→げる, つ→てる, ぶ→べる, る→れる.
Ru-verbs (Group II)
Drop る, add られる:
| Dictionary | Potential |
|---|---|
| 食べる (taberu) | 食べられる |
| 見る (miru) | 見られる |
| 起きる (okiru) | 起きられる |
Colloquial shortening: In casual speech, many people drop the ら and just say 食べれる, 見れる, 起きれる. This is called ら抜き言葉 (ra-nuki kotoba). You'll hear it constantly, though it's technically non-standard. Textbooks teach the full られる, but real life uses both.
Irregular Verbs
| Dictionary | Potential |
|---|---|
| する | できる |
| 来る (kuru) | こられる (or これる) |
Note: する doesn't become せる. It becomes an entirely different word: できる.
Important: Potential Verbs are Ru-verbs
Once a verb is in potential form, it behaves like a ru-verb for all further conjugation:
- 行ける → 行けます (polite)
- 食べられる → 食べられない (negative)
- 話せる → 話せた (past)
The Particle Shift: を → が
When using potential form, the object particle を can become が:
- 漢字を読む → 漢字が読める
- ピアノを弾く → ピアノが弾ける
Both を and が work with potential form, but が is more common. With できる specifically, が is always used.