Hanaseru

I was just wondering why you would use hanaseru? why is there ru? anyway? as the actual word is hanasu? Please tell me From Chloe

Konnichiwa! hanaseru is the informal "can" form of the verb to speak. The rule for this verb is to replace the ending: -u with -eru. So it would be something like this: hanasu - to speak and hanaseru - can speak. Example: boku wa nihongo o hanaseru - I can speak Japanese Now, you may know the form like this: hanaseMASU, which is the polite form of hanaseru. For a better explanation, find a post made by me, named: <<"Can you ?" questions>>, where Sayaka-sensei explained these things way better than me (I'm not good at explaining things, gomen). Hope this was of help ! コッド

Konnichiwa Chloe-san, As Coddo-san has kindly explained, 'hanaseru' is the "can" form or potential form of 'hanasu' (to speak/talk). For all 'u' ending verbs, you simple drop the 'u' and add '-eru'. For example: hanasu > hanas- > hanaseru (to speak > can speak) kaku > kak- > kakeru (to write > can write) nomu > nom- > nomeru (to drink > can drink) For regular '-ru' ending verbs you drop the '-ru' and add '-rareru', like this: taberu > tabe- > taberareru (to eat > can eat) -Hope that helps! Sayaka ;)

Here's a copy of the post Coddo-san mentioned: U-ending verbs: tsukau "to use" > drop the 'u' and add 'eru' > tsuakaeru "can use" iku "to go" > drop the 'u' and add 'eru' > ikeru "can go" hanasu "to speak/talk" > drop the 'u' and add 'eru' > hanaseru "can speak/talk" To form the polite versions of these three "CAN" verbs (tsukaeru, ikeru, hanaseru) you need to replace -RU with -MASU, so you get tsukaemasu, ikemasu, hanasemasu. And, to make these questions, we just add the particle -KA > tsuakemasu ka? ikemasu ka? hanasemasu ka? "Can you use?" "Can you go?" "Can you speak?* Now, taberu or "to eat" is a -RU ending verb so to form the CAN-verb we need to follow these rules: taberu "to eat" > drop the 'ru' and add 'rareru' > taberareru "can eat" To form the polite version of taberareru "Can eat" we need to replace -RU with -MASU - which gives us taberaremasu "I can eat". To make this a CAN YOU? question we add the question particle KA > taberaremasu ka? "Can you eat?" ;)