# 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))
* 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!
* indicates a spontaneous action
* 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.
* (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.
| 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

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)