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I've been coming across this weird verb conjugation that seems to happen in some verbs, where you replace る with える, e.g. 見る → 見える。

Is this a different verb form, how does it change the meaning of the verb?

Earthliŋ
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Felipe Chaves de Oliveira
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    Possible duplicate of [What is the difference between 見える【みえる】／聞こえる【きこえる】 and 見られる【みられる】／聞ける【きける】?](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/5287/what-is-the-difference-between-%e8%a6%8b%e3%81%88%e3%82%8b-%e3%81%bf%e3%81%88%e3%82%8b-%e8%81%9e%e3%81%93%e3%81%88%e3%82%8b-%e3%81%8d%e3%81%93%e3%81%88%e3%82%8b-and-%e8%a6%8b%e3%82%89%e3%82%8c%e3%82%8b-%e3%81%bf%e3%82%89%e3%82%8c%e3%82%8b-%e8%81%9e%e3%81%91%e3%82%8b-%e3%81%8d%e3%81%91%e3%82%8b) – broccoli facemask Sep 17 '16 at 06:54
  • 見る to look; 見える to see – oals Sep 17 '16 at 07:04
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    Same thing with 聞く to listen; 聞こえる to hear. First one has active effort, second one is more passive, I guess. (The English approximations aren't really that good.) – oals Sep 17 '16 at 07:16
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    @broccoliforest I don't think that's a duplicate; it focusses on the potential form only. – oals Sep 17 '16 at 08:34
  • 見る is "watch", 見える is "can see". – Takahiro Waki Sep 17 '16 at 11:59

1 Answers1

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見る and 見える are separate verbs in the present Japanese language.

You know, 見る is to look at.

見える has a couple of meanings; they also apply to other verbs like 聞こえる, 思える, etc.

  1. possibility.

    ここから東京スカイツリーが見える。

    We can see the Tokyo Sky Tree here.

  2. occurring unintentionally.

    ちょっと見えただけなんだ。君のスカートの中を見ようとしたわけじゃないよ。

    It merely jumped into my sight; I was never trying to see what's in your skirt.

  3. to seem.

    彼はこの時間をとても楽しんでいるように見える。

    He seems to be having a really good time.

Faily Feely
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