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In Japanese, there is a potential form to express that it's possible for
something to be done.

My own examples of potential form:

> 辛【から】い食【た】べ物【もの】が食【た】べられる。 (I **can** eat spicy foods.)
>
> ギターが弾【ひ】ける。 (I **can** play the guitar.)

But I also know of `見【み】える` and `聞【き】こえる`. I've heard them used as also
meaning it's possible for something to be done (seeing for `見【み】える` and
hearing for `聞【き】こえる`). But this isn't the potential conjugation of the
original words, `見【み】る` and `聞【き】く`. The potential form would be `見【み】られる` and
`聞【き】ける`.

What is the difference between the normal potential form and their "special"
forms?
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2012-04-25T22:46:41.490
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word-choice usage verbs conjugations potential-form
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】?
> みえる = to be able to see. (precisely: _to be seen/to be in sight_ )  
>  ⇒ Can you see the fujisan? => 富士山が見えますか？
>
> みれる = to be able to watch.  
>  ⇒ Can you watch DVD with this? => それでDVDが見れますか？

The same for 聞ける (Can you listen) vs 聞こえる (Can you hear / precisely: _to be
heard/to be audible_ )

みえる and きこえる and not a special form of みる and きく, they are specific verbs by
themselves.
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2012-04-26T00:34:45.190
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What I've read regarding the 見える、見られる and 聞こえる、聞ける doesn't appear to have been
mentioned here at all and I think it's probably the clearest explanation.

  * 見える - something comes into view
  * 聞こえる - something can be heard

Both of these describe sights/sounds that can be sensed regardless of the
speaker's volition, e.g. if you look out the window you can see the sky, or
you can hear a baby crying. For these kinds of things you don't really have a
say in the matter.

  * 見られる - you can see something
  * 聞ける - you can hear/listen to something

These describe things that you can do (hence potential verbs) but on a
volitional level e.g. you can see a film at the cinema or you can listen to a
song on the radio.

Hopefully that clears it up a little. If not then let me know and I'll try
explaining another way.
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2013-11-03T16:41:53.303
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## 見える

  1. To be visible, to be in sight.

> あそこに高{たか}い山{やま}が見える。

A tall mountain can be seen over there.

> 僕{ぼく}にはあなたが見える。

_You are visible to me / I can see you._

  2. _to look like_.

>
> 僕にはその雲{くも}が[わたあめ](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%82%8F%E3%81%9F%E3%81%82%E3%82%81)に見える。

That cloud looks like cotton candy to me.

* * *

見える is about objects being visible and not so much about one's ability to to
see them. Obviously, if an object is visible to us, we _can_ see it.

## 見られる

  1. To be able to see. （見ることができる）

> その動物園{どうぶつえん}では珍{めずら}しい鳥{とり}を見られる。

  2. ( _Damn!_ ) they saw / caught me. （見られてしまった）

> 着替{きが}えているところを見られてしまった。

Someone saw me when I was changing clothes.

* * *

聞{きこ}こえる and 聞{き}かれる follows roughly exactly the same pattern as 見える and 見られる.

## 聞こえる

To be audible. To be heard.

  * 電車{でんしゃ}の音{おと}が聞こえる。
  * ウエイターを呼{よ}んだが、僕の声{こえ}は聞{き}こえなかったようだ。

## 聞かれる

To be able to hear / listen or when someone hears what one is / was saying and
that's undesirable.

> 悪{わる}いわさ話{ばなし}を聞かれてしまった。

She / Someone heard me speaking ill of her / saying bad things about her.
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2014-11-19T11:35:14.367
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> みえます

Maybe, I think that your understanding is correct.

> みまられます  
>

The word "みまられます" is not. Did you mean "みられます" ?

Can you show me an example sentence?

> きけます (= can listen)

  
eg:  
あなたはストーリーをきけます。 You can listen to the story .

> きこえます (=hear)

  
eg:  
海の音がきこえます。 We can hear the ocean from here.

何か音がきこえますか？ Do you hear any sound?
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2014-11-19T12:06:43.460
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They can be summarized like this:  
( I=intransitive verb / T=transitive verb / TP=potential form of the
transitive verb )

```

    I: きこえる "can be heard" / T: きく "hear" / TP: きける "can hear"
    I: みえる   "can be seen"  / T: みる "see"  / TP: (みられる or みれる) "can see" 
    
```

So this is the picture. However one point somewhat confusing is the (みられる or
みれる) part, where lexically correct form is said to be みられる but it is rather
rare, and popular form みれる is formally considered incorrect.
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2014-11-19T15:12:23.643
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