Using 見える and 聞こえる

While there is a conjugation that exists for conveying "can do" with verbs (the potential form), there are a few verbs that have their own separate word for this.

Enter the debate between 見える and 見られる. It's difficult to distinguish the two, but 見える is its own verb, while 見られる is just 見る in the potential form. So how do they differ? I'm going to give my best attempt at an explanation.

見える is stating that something is visible, such as "I can see the clouds."

見られる is saying that the subject can actively see someone or something.

大阪のホテルから山が見える。
I can see the mountains from our hotel in Osaka.

毎週末東京でステージが見られる。
You can see the performance every weekend in Tokyo.

The same sort of duality exists with 聞こえる and 聞ける (the potential form of 聞く). Again, 聞こえる is saying that something is audible, while 聞ける refers to being able to actively hear or listen to something.

毎朝まどの外鳥が聞こえる。
I can hear the birds outside my window every morning.

仕事では音楽が聞ける。
I can listen to music at work.