れる

Japanese

Etymology

From Early Middle 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; from Proto-Japonic *-(a)ru.

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 • (-reru) ichidan (stem れ (-re), past れた (-reta))

1. forms a passive verb from an active one

   相(あい)手(て)の選(せん)手(しゅ)に押(お)されたら、押(お)し返(かえ)せ！

   Aite no senshu ni osaretara, oshikaese!

   If you are pushed by opponent players, push them in return!

2. indicates a spontaneous action
3. by extension of the indirect sense of the passive, used to add a light honorific sense to verbs

   永(えい)眠(みん)されました

   eimin saremashita

   passed away

   私(わたし)たちの先生(せんせい)は、五(ご)分(ふん)位(ぐらい)で戻(もど)られると思(おも)います。

   Watashitachi no sensei wa, go fun gurai de modorareru to omoimasu.

   I/We think that our teacher will be back in about five minutes.

   天(てん)皇(のう)陛(へい)下(か)が皇(こう)居(きょ)にお戻(もど)りになられる。

   Tennō Heika ga Kōkyo ni o-modori ni narareru.

   His Imperial Majesty would be back to the Imperial Palace.

4. (archaic, now colloquial) forms a potential verb from an active one: to be able to [verb]

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.

Inflection rules for the れる form

non-accented word	dictionary form	mizenkei + -reru	accented word	dictionary form	mizenkei + -reru
godan verbs (type 1)
聞く	きく (kìkú)	きかれる (kìkárérú)	書く	かく (káꜜkù)	かかれる (kàkáréꜜrù)
嗅ぐ	かぐ (kàgú)	かがれる (kàgárérú)	泳ぐ	およぐ (òyóꜜgù)	およがれる (òyógáréꜜrù)
貸す	かす (kàsú)	かされる (kàsárérú)	話す	はなす (hànáꜜsù)	はなされる (hànásáréꜜrù)
取り持つ	とりもつ (tòrímótsú)	とりもたれる (tòrímótárérú)	立つ	たつ (táꜜtsù)	たたれる (tàtáréꜜrù)
死ぬ	しぬ (shìnú)	しなれる (shìnárérú)	凍え死ぬ	こごえしぬ (kògóéshíꜜnù)	こごえしなれる (kògóéshínáréꜜrù)
呼ぶ	よぶ (yòbú)	よばれる (yòbárérú)	選ぶ	えらぶ (èráꜜbù)	えらばれる (èrábáréꜜrù)
望む	のぞむ (nòzómú)	のぞまれる (nòzómárérú)	読む	よむ (yóꜜmù)	よまれる (yòmáréꜜrù)
終わる	おわる (òwárú)	おわられる (òwárárérú)	作る	つくる (tsùkúꜜrù)	つくられる (tsùkúráréꜜrù)
言う	いう (ìú)	いわれる (ìwárérú)	会う	あう (áꜜù)	あわれる (àwáréꜜrù)
追う	おう (òú)	おわれる (òwárérú)	食う	くう (kúꜜù)	くわれる (kùwáréꜜrù)
irregular verbs (type 3)
する	する (sùrú)	される (sàrérú)

(Part of the accent information comes from the Online Japanese Accent Dictionary.)

• The passive form of verbs from other conjugation classes is formed with られる (-rareru) instead of れる (-reru) except in colloquial speech (see ら抜(ぬ)き言(こと)葉(ば) (ra-nuki kotoba)).

• In modern Japanese, れる (-reru) is no longer used for the potential in godan verbs, a function which is now expressed by the -eru form of godan verbs and by substituting できる (dekiru) for する (suru) for s-irregular verbs. The result is conjugated similarly.

• In traditional Japanese grammar, this is a 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”). Morphologically, this is an inflectional suffix whose proper shape is -are- (terminal form -areru), attaching to the stem of consonant-stem verbs.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "れる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

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

See also

• られる (-rareru)
• ゆ (-yu)