れる
JapaneseEdit
EtymologyEdit
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).
SuffixEdit
れる • (-reru) ichidan (stem れ (-re), past れた (-reta))
- Makes the passive voice.
- Shows a spontaneous action.
- Forms a light honorific expression.
- (archaic) Makes the potential form; -able, -ible.
ConjugationEdit
| 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 notesEdit
- 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.
| 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 ら抜き言葉 (ra-nuki kotoba)).
- 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 する (suru) for s-irregular verbs.
- 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.