れる

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).

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

• 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.

• 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.

• られる (-rareru)
• ゆ (-yu)