Why is the verb 変えれない instead of 変えられない


the only two reasons I can think of are politeness(he is talking to himself)
or because it might be confused with the passive(because it's potential)




This is called [ら抜き言葉](https://www.nihongo-c.jp/blog/blog-entry-139.html),
'words without ら', and while it is often used informally by younger speakers,
it's non-standard and therefore can make you look sloppy if you use it in a
formal environment. It can apply to any 一段 verb, so long as you can use the
potential with it: いれる, 見れる, 変えれる, 食べれる etc. Note that when an 一段 ～られる is
passive rather than potential you cannot remove ら.

It most likely arose because, for 五段 verbs ending in ～る, 「～れる」 _is_ the
standard potential form, plus it creates a distinction between the passive and
potential forms.




This is called [ら抜き言葉](https://www.nihongo-c.jp/blog/blog-entry-139.html),
'words without ら', and while it is often used informally by younger speakers,
it's non-standard and therefore can make you look sloppy if you use it in a
formal environment. It can apply to any 一段 verb, so long as you can use the
potential with it: いれる, 見れる, 変えれる, 食べれる etc. Note that when an 一段 ～られる is
passive rather than potential you cannot remove ら.

It most likely arose because, for 五段 verbs ending in ～る, 「～れる」 _is_ the
standard potential form, plus it creates a distinction between the passive and
potential forms.

