Grammar › N1 · 12 Inference and judgment

〜得る・〜得ない: can; possible to

N1 · 12 Inference and judgment

Says that something is possible or impossible in principle.

Verb stem + 得る/得ない. Both うる and える are read; 得る is mostly うる in writing and えない for the negative. Examples: ありうる, 考えうる, ありえない. Not for ability of a person; it is about possibility. Compare 〜られる.

Examples

それは、十分じゅうぶんありうることだ。

That is a perfectly possible thing.

こんな失敗しっぱいは、あってはならないし、あり得えない。

A mistake like this must not happen, and it is impossible.

Study 〜得る・〜得ない in the course →