Sign up ×

I have the sentence:


This is the first time I've seen 「死んでゆける」 or 「ゆける」. What does it mean? Is this a grammatical form? I also tried looking up more examples with 「ゆける」here, but there are only a few, and I'm not able to derive the meaning yet.

share|improve this question
We also write it as 死んで'い'ける, the potential form of 死んで'い'く. (死んで'ゆ'ける and 死んで'ゆ'く sound more literary to me.) We also have 「[生]{う}まれてくる」、「[生]{い}きていく(生きてゆく)」... – user1016 Aug 15 '12 at 3:27
ところで・・・the いく in 死んでいく has a nuance of "離れる/going away" and the いく in 生きていく has a nuance of "続ける/~~on, continue ~~" – user1016 Aug 16 '12 at 15:28

1 Answer 1

yuke-ru (行ける) is a verb meaning "can go" or "is possible". It derives from the potential form of the verb yuk- (行く). "an aging society in which one can die being grateful for being born and growing old in this country"

share|improve this answer
Thanks, I didn't even consider「行く」when I should have. Is it normal for it to be written in hiragana as opposed to kanji? – Chris Harris Aug 14 '12 at 22:25
Either is fine, but I typically see it in hiragana. Consider it being written in kanji: is it read ikeru or yukeru? That is one motivation. – Dono Aug 14 '12 at 22:28
Since it's speaking of dying, wouldn't it more likely be 逝ける? – istrasci Aug 14 '12 at 22:56
It's typically written in hiragana when used with the って form of the verb, as is くる. – Jeemusu Aug 15 '12 at 0:03
@Gradius Note though that both iku and yuku are already extant in Nara period texts. – Dono Aug 15 '12 at 5:23

Your Answer


