Difference between dictionary form and れる/られる

I have read the explanation for this grammar point several times and checked out some external sources but I still can’t seem to quite grasp it.

What would be the difference between these two sentences?
りんごを食べる and ろんごを食べられる?

I eat apples/I will eat apples vs apples are edible/apples are good to eat/apples will be eaten/its is possible for me to eat apples.

even then context matters a lot. as a question 「リンゴを食べる?」would mostly be read as do YOU eat apples? 「リンゴを食べられる?」 Would probably mean something like CAN you eat apples?

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I should have explained that it was the “passive” られる I was confused about, I haven’t gotten to the potential られる grammar point yet.

Your first explanation helped me better understand the passive られる.

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For me it’s easier to understand in past form I think. リンゴを食べた vs リンゴを食べられた, I ate apple(I did it) vs the apple was eaten (by who or what we don’t know, but it’s gone now. Maybe it was your apple and you wanted to eat it but when you went to go get it, Bob was taking the last bite of your apple lol).

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