Look at these two sentences:
A. 富士山が見える。 → I can see Mt. Fuji. B. テレビで偶像が見られる。 → I can see the idol on TV.
A is about the ability of your eyes (you can see it), while B is about conditions being met (you have a TV, so you can watch).
見える・聞こえる = Sensory Ability
見える and 聞こえる are sensory verbs that express the inherent ability of your senses — being able to see / being able to hear.
-
富士山が見える。 → I can see Mt. Fuji. (Standing here, my eyes can naturally see it.)
-
隣の部屋の音が聞こえる。 → I can hear sounds from the next room. (My ears naturally pick it up.)
見える / 聞こえる = No special conditions needed; your senses naturally perceive it.
見られる・聞ける = Conditional Possibility
見られる and 聞ける are potential forms, expressing that you can see or hear something because of some condition or opportunity.
-
テレビで偶像が見られる。 → You can see the idol on TV. (Because the condition of having a TV is met.)
-
このアプリで音楽が聞ける。 → You can listen to music with this app. (Because the condition of having the app is met.)
見られる / 聞ける = There is some external condition that makes seeing/hearing possible.
Comparison Summary
| 見える・聞こえる | 見られる・聞ける | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Sensory ability | Possibility from conditions |
| Key point | Naturally perceivable | Requires some condition |
| Example | 富士山が見える | テレビで見られる |
Subject Restrictions on Emotion Adjectives
This is a related grammar point from the same lesson — Japanese emotion adjectives (怖い, 嬉しい, 寂しい, etc.) have subject restrictions.
Rule: Emotion adjectives can only describe "me"
- ✅ （私は）犬が怖い。 → I'm afraid of dogs.
- ❌ 山田さんは犬が怖い。 → You can't directly use the adjective to say someone else is afraid.
Why? Because you can't directly perceive another person's inner feelings.
Solution: Verbalize the Adjective
Turn the adjective into a verb form to describe someone else:
| Method | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| がっている | 怖がっている | Showing signs of being afraid |
| 恐れている | 失敗を恐れている | Fearing (verb itself) |
-
山田さんは失敗を怖がっている。 → Yamada is showing signs of being afraid of failure. (An external behavior you observed.)
-
山田さんは失敗を恐れている。 → Yamada fears failure. (恐れる is a verb itself, so there's no subject restriction.)
怖い = inner feeling (limited to "I"). 怖がっている = outward behavior (anyone). 恐れている = verb (anyone).
Self-Test
Q1. Standing on a mountaintop, you can see the ocean. Do you use 見える or 見られる?
Show answer
見える. Standing on the mountaintop, your eyes can naturally see it = sensory ability = 見える.
Q2. What is wrong with 「山田さんは犬が怖い」? How would you fix it?
Show answer
The emotion adjective 怖い can only describe yourself. Change it to: 山田さんは犬を怖がっている (Yamada is showing signs of being afraid of dogs).
Summary
- 見える / 聞こえる = sensory ability; you naturally perceive it
- 見られる / 聞ける = conditional possibility; you can see/hear because of some condition
- Emotion adjectives (怖い, etc.) can only describe "me"; use verb forms to describe others
- 怖がっている = outward behavior, 恐れている = verb with no subject restriction