Loading ...How to make someone do certain things in Japanese - Causative forms
In today’s post on Guide To Learn Japanese, we are going to learn another Japanese form. By using causative forms or passive causative forms, you show commandment by making or letting someone do something. Causative forms are usually use by someone of a higher authority like a mother telling her son to learn music. Or you being made to print out documents by your boss. Let’s look at how we can change from the plain form to the causative forms first.
| 食べる taberu (to eat) |
食べさせる tabesaseru |
| 話す hanasu (to speak) |
話させる hanasaseru |
| 歩く aruku (to walk) |
歩かせる arukaseru |
| 泳ぐ oyogu (to swim) |
泳がせる oyogaseru |
| 呼ぶ yobu (to call) |
呼ばせる yobaseru |
| 飲む nomu (to drink) |
飲ませる nomaseru |
| 死ぬ shinu (to die) |
死なせる shinaseru |
| 作る tsukuru (to make) |
作らせる tsukuraseru |
| 待つ matsu (to wait) |
待たせる mataseru |
| 洗う arau (to wash) |
あらわせる arawaseru |
And for the special words
するsuru (to do) becomes させるsaseru
くるkuru (to come) becomes こさせるkosaseru
The root + saseruさせる. To have a better understanding of how to convert to the させるsaseru form, think of the -nai form. So たべる becomes たべない and then drop the -nai form becomes たべ + させる. Which means to make (someone) eat. Here are two examples in Japanese.
こども に ごはん を たべさせました
子供 に ご飯 を 食べさせました
I made my child eat rice.
こども に つめたい もの を たべさせません
子供 に 冷たい 物 を 食べさせません
I don’t let my child eat cold stuffs
こども、子供 means child
つめたい、冷たい means cold (Take note that this word for cold is use for describing things only. If you want to talk about the weather being cold today, you should use さむい、寒い. E.g きょう は さむい です ね、今日 は 寒い です ね meaning Today is cold, isn’t it? ね is use to for affirmation)
もの、物 means things or stuffs.
So if you want to make someone do or don’t do something, use the に after the person’s name. Think of に the same meaning as “to”. So if you look at the sentences above, it literally means in backwards, “child to cold stuffs, let eat” But if you say it in Japanese with the right structuring, it makes sense.
“child to cold stuffs, not let eat”
こども に つめたい もの を たべさせません
Can you see it? This is how you form Japanese sentences in Japanese. Most English speakers tend to form Japanese sentences in English. To get a better understanding of this. Go to my previous post on learning how to speak, write, read, listen and understand in Japanese . Look for it under the paragraph on speaking.
Here is another example
こども を はいしゃ に いかせました
子供 を/に 歯医者 に 行かせました
I made/let my child go to the dentist.
を is use for commandment, and に is use for allowing
But what if you want to say “I made my child eat cold food” So you might think of the sentence this way
こども を つめたい もの を たべさせます
Grammatically speaking and as general thumb of rule, it is wrong. Because を can never happen twice in a succession with verbs which normally takes objects. The particle に must be use in this case. Then you might be thinking, so how can I command in Japanese using this way of speaking? Well..in this case, there is no way. Using the に particle in this context is sufficient.
In the coming post, I will touch on passive causative forms. So stay tune! For the rest of the day, let your mine slowly absorb on learning causative forms.
Enjoy learning Japanese!
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