れる
Japanese
Etymology
From Classical Japanese る (ru), which followed 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) and attached to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō, “quadrigrade conjugation”), ナ行変格活用 (na-gyō henkaku katsuyō, “n-irregular conjugation”), and ラ行変格活用 (ra-gyō henkaku katsuyō, “r-irregular conjugation”) verbs.
During the later stages of the language, as with other shimo nidan verbs, the original 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) る (ru) was gradually lost as the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) るる (ruru) came to be used for both functions, realigning the conjugations. The suffix came to be also used with さ (sa), the new 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of サ行変格活用 (sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō, “s-irregular conjugation”) verbs. Finally, the conjugation type of the suffix shifted to 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”), making the modern form れる (reru).
Suffix
れる (ichidan conjugation, rōmaji -reru)
Conjugation
| Stem forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | れ | -re | ||
| Continuative (連用形) | れ | -re | ||
| Terminal (終止形) | れる | -reru | ||
| Attributive (連体形) | れる | -reru | ||
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | れれ | -rere | ||
| Imperative (命令形) | れよ¹ れろ² |
-reyo¹ -rero² | ||
| Key constructions | ||||
| Passive | － | － | ||
| Causative | － | － | ||
| Potential | － | － | ||
| Volitional | れよう | -reyō | ||
| Negative | れない れぬ れん |
-renai -renu -ren | ||
| Negative continuative | れず | -rezu | ||
| Formal | れます | -remasu | ||
| Perfective | れた | -reta | ||
| Conjunctive | れて | -rete | ||
| Hypothetical conditional | れれば | -rereba | ||
| ¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative | ||||
Usage notes
Attaches only to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of Group I (godan) verbs and the irregular verb する (suru). The result is conjugated like an ichidan verb.
- 書く (kaku) → 書かれる (kaka-reru), 書かれます (kaka-remasu), etc.
- 呼ぶ (yobu) → 呼ばれる (yoba-reru), 呼ばれます (yoba-remasu), etc.
- 言う (iu) → 言われる (iwa-reru), 言われます (iwa-remasu), etc.
- する (suru) → される (sa-reru), されます (sa-remasu), etc.
The passive form of verbs from other conjugation classes are formed with られる (-rareru) instead of れる (-reru).
In modern Japanese, れる (-reru) is no longer used for the potential, a function which is now expressed by the 可能動詞 (kanō dōshi) form of godan verbs and by substituting できる (dekiru) for the irregular verb する (suru). Recently in colloquial speech, られる (-rareru) used for the potential is also shortened to れる (-reru), a practice called ら抜き言葉 (ra-nuki kotoba).