Potential form

4 comments

1. -reru is not a shortened form of -rareru. They are the potential form of 5dan vs. non-5dan verbs, respectively.

   They can’t be used interchangeably.

2. My advice is dont worry about normal and shortened form for now.

   When you get to an Advanced level and start to speak to native Japanese, you will naturally realised which form is used when and where.

3. While so-called ら抜き言葉 are fairly common [they are considered “less correct” and are less common](https://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/sisaku/joho/joho/kakuki/20/tosin03/09.html):

   > 　しかしながら,この言い方は現時点ではなお共通語においては誤りとされ,少なくとも新聞等ではほとんど用いられていない。世論調査(平成7年文化庁) においても,「食べられない/食べれない」「来られる/来れる」「考えられない/考えれない」についてどちらを使うかを聞いたところ,3例とも本来の言い方(「食べられない」「来られる」「考えられない」)を使うという答えが,平均7割を上回った。

   If you need help reading that:

   > However, this way of speaking (i.e., ra-nuki kotoba) is usually considered a mistake and, at the least, is hardly used in newspapers and the like. According to an opinion poll (Ministry of Culture, Heisei 7/1995), given the examples “taberarenai/taberenai, korareru/koreru, kangararenai/kangaerenai,” for all 3, on average, more than 70% of respondents preferred the original form.

   Of course, 1995 was a while ago, and I think you will probably hear it more than those figures suggest. Nevertheless, you can’t find yourself wrong-footed using the original form, so go for that one when in doubt.

4. My SO and his family (born and raised in Japan) all omit the ra. They are also from a prefecture with a heavy dialect. I’ve also lived in a few other places in japan and notice the ‘dialect’ places omit it more often than places like Tokyo.

   I use the ra most of the time, though. It’s easier to say the long form then to get mixed up, for me. SO likes to laugh at me and tell me I sound like I’m from Tokyo when I use the long form (I use his dialect most of the time)

   Neither is wrong. When in doubt, get used to the long form until you gain the skill not to from others?