得る|うる
- 1Indicates that an event or situation can possibly occur.Ex. 1
- 2Indicates that it is possible for someone to carry out an action.Ex. 2
Reading: the dictionary form is read うる or える（あり得る → ありうる／ありえる）
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Belongs to formal and written language such as essays, reports, news and speeches, and sounds stiff in casual conversation. It states objective possibility or capacity, so it is less suited to everyday personal abilities, where the ordinary potential form (泳げる, 話せる, 食べられる) is natural. Unlike かもしれない, which expresses the speaker's guess, 得る presents a possibility as a general fact.
Learners often read the negative as うない, but the correct reading is えない (得ない).
Do not use 得る for casual everyday skills like swimming or speaking a language; use the potential form (泳げる, 話せる) instead.
Note that the ます form and past form use the え reading: 得ます, 得た.
- 得ないN2「得ない」 is the negative form of 「得る」 and means the opposite: 'impossible, cannot be done,' so the two cannot be swapped. Both attach to the ます-form of a verb, but 「得ない」 is only read えない; apart from 「あり得ない」, which is common in speech, both are mostly written-style.
- られるN3「られる」 is the neutral, everyday potential form, attaching to ichidan verbs and 「来る」, and typically expresses personal ability or permission by circumstances; 「得る」 is stiff and literary, attaches to the ます-form, and can also mean 'something may happen,' but is not used for concrete personal skills.
- かもしれないN4「かもしれない」 is the speaker's subjective, uncertain guess, neutral in register, and attaches to verbs, adjectives, and nouns; 「得る」 objectively states possibility, is written-style, attaches only to the ます-form of verbs, and carries a sense of 'being able to' that 「かもしれない」 lacks.
- べくもないN1「べくもない」 attaches to the dictionary form of a verb and means that, given the circumstances, something is simply out of the question, pairing only with a limited set of verbs like 「望む」 and 「知る」; 「得る」 attaches to the ます-form, and its affirmative form expresses possibility or ability, so the two cannot be interchanged.
- 恐れがあるN2「恐れがある」 is limited to bad outcomes and attaches to nouns with の, or verbs in dictionary/た/ない form; 「得る」 attaches to the ます-form, works for good or bad outcomes, and can also express ability. They are interchangeable when talking about a future bad event, but 「た恐れがある」 indicates something may have already happened, so no swap is possible there.
得ない is the negative, meaning something is impossible, and べくもない is a literary expression meaning there is no way to do the preceding action (知るべくもない 'impossible to know'). られる is the everyday potential ending for verbs like 食べる (食べられる), かもしれない expresses the speaker's conjecture, and 恐れがある is limited to undesirable possibilities, whereas 得る is neutral about whether the outcome is good or bad.
