～られる／～える（可能形）【～られる／～える（かのうけい）】

The potential form (可能形, かのうけい) expresses ability or possibility – that someone can or is able to do something. It answers the question "Can you do this?"

Formation

The potential form conjugates like a ru-verb.

する → できる

The most important potential verb to know is できる, which is the potential form of する. It is used for all する-compound verbs.

Object particle: が instead of を

With potential verbs, the object is often marked with が rather than を. Both are grammatically acceptable, but が is very natural and common.

Negative potential – cannot do

Add ない (plain) or ません (polite) to express inability.

Past potential – could / was able to

Colloquial form for ru-verbs (ら抜き言葉)

In casual spoken Japanese, ru-verbs sometimes drop the ら: 食べられる → 食べれる. This is called ら抜き言葉 (ら-dropping words). It is common in speech but considered non-standard in formal writing.

Note: potential vs. passive (ru-verbs)

For ru-verbs, the potential and passive forms look the same.