Japanese Potential Form: られる vs できる (Can You…?)

‘Can you speak Japanese?’ — how do you say that in Japanese? Japanese has a dedicated potential form to express ability. But there are actually two ways to say ‘can’: the potential verb form (adding られる / れる) and the word できる. Knowing when to use each one will make your Japanese sound natural.

How to Make the Potential Form

Group 2 (ru-verbs): replace る with られる

Group 1 (u-verbs): replace u-sound with e-sound + る

Group 3 (Irregular)

Yuka

I used to say 日本語を話せられる which is wrong — you can’t double up potential forms! Each verb only gets ONE potential ending.
(×話せられる is a double potential — incorrect. ○話せる or ○話すことができる are both fine.)

Rei

Also watch out for the short form. Younger speakers often drop ら from られる: 食べられる → 食べれる. This is called ra-nuki (ら抜き言葉) — common in casual speech but technically incorrect in formal writing.
(ら抜き is accepted in conversation but avoid it in business writing or JLPT.)

できる vs Potential Form — When to Use Each

Both express ability, but they have different nuances.

Key difference: できる works best with nouns and general skills. The potential verb form is more precise for specific verbs.

日本語ができる。(I can [do] Japanese — general skill)
日本語を話せる。(I can speak Japanese — specific verb)

Particle Shift with Potential Form

This is where English speakers get confused. When you use the potential form, the object particle を often shifts to が.

In modern Japanese, both が and を are used with potential forms in casual speech. However, が is more grammatically traditional.

Yuka

The particle shift surprised me. My teacher said: think of が as highlighting the object of ability — 魚が食べられる means ‘fish is something I CAN eat.’ The が puts emphasis on what the ability applies to.
(が marks what the potential applies to — it’s a subtle focus shift.)

Rei

In business emails, I always use することができる for formality. Instead of 参加できます, I write 参加することができます. It sounds more considered and professional.
(することができます is the go-to for formal business Japanese.)

Expressing ‘Used to Be Able To’ and ‘Became Able To’

Japanese has neat patterns for changing ability over time:

前は食べられなかったが、今は食べられる。
(I couldn’t eat it before, but now I can.)

日本語が話せるようになった。
(I became able to speak Japanese.)

忙しくて、行けなくなった。
(I got busy and became unable to go.)

Quick Quiz

1. Change 書く (write) to potential form: ___

→ 書ける (kakeru)

2. Which is more formal: 食べられる or 食べることができる?

→ 食べることができる

3. True or False: 日本語を話せられる is correct.

→ False — double potential. Say 日本語を話せる or 日本語が話せる.

4. Fill in: 子供の頃、牛乳が飲め___。(I could drink milk as a child.)

→ た (飲めた)

5. What does ～ようになる mean when used with potential form?

→ To become able to (a change in ability over time)

Which potential form surprised you most? Have you made the ら抜き mistake? Tell us in the comments!

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