Meaning & usage
られる expresses ability or possibility with ichidan verbs, meaning someone can do something or something can happen under certain conditions. It attaches to the verb stem after dropping る, as in 食べる becoming 食べられる and 見る becoming 見られる. The resulting form conjugates as an ichidan verb, so negatives and polite forms follow patterns like られない and られます. In casual speech, ら is often dropped to give forms like 見れる.
Example sentences 8
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正午までにそれを終えられますか。
Can you finish it by noon?
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水がなければ何も生きられないでしょう。
Without water, nothing could live.
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早く始めれば昼飯までに終えられる。
If we begin early, we can finish by lunch.
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空気なしでは生きられない。
We cannot live without air.
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オランダでは、どこへ行っても風車が見られる。
Go where you will in Holland, you will see windmills.
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こんな寒いところで、待ってられないわ。
I can't stand and wait in a place this cold!
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私は何も見られません。
I can't see anything.
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もうこれ以上、デザインを考えられない。
I can't think about the design any more.
In past JLPT papers
This came up in 5 past exam questions.
