Structure
Examples:
［る1］Verb ￫ 見る + させる
［る5］Verb ￫ 座る + らせる
［う］Verb ￫ 歌う + わせる
［く］Verb ￫ 歩く + かせる
［す］Verb ￫ 話す + させる
［つ］Verb ￫ 打つ + たせる
［ぬ］Verb ￫ 死ぬ + なせる
［ぶ］Verb ￫ 飛ぶ + ばせる
［む］Verb ￫ 休む + ませる
［ぐ］Verb ￫ 泳ぐ + がせる
Exceptions:
する→させる
くる→ こさせる
Details
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Standard
使用域
一般
About Verb［せる・させる］
In order to express that someone was 'made to do', or 'let do' something, the auxiliary verbs せる and させる will be used. The meaning that せる and させる will convey (when attached to a verb) is called 使役 (causative, employment, or using) in Japanese.
A common misconception is that せる and させる are standard conjugations of each verb. However, these auxiliary verbs should be thought of as having their own meaning, in a similar way to how たい, ない, だ, です, and other auxiliaries each have their own meanings.
In order to use these grammar structures, remove the る from る-Verbs, and then add させる. For う-Verbs, change the last kana to the あ sound kana from within the same column (except for う, which becomes わ), and then add せる (る becomes ら, む becomes ま, く becomes か, etc.).
(A) が (B) に楽しませる - For (A) to cause fun 'in' (B).
(A) が (B) を楽しませる - For (A) to cause fun 'through' (B).
It is these standard meanings of the particles に (a location) and を (a target) that will create the 'let', or 'make' nuance when using せる, or させる.
A common misconception is that せる and させる are standard conjugations of each verb. However, these auxiliary verbs should be thought of as having their own meaning, in a similar way to how たい, ない, だ, です, and other auxiliaries each have their own meanings.
In order to use these grammar structures, remove the る from る-Verbs, and then add させる. For う-Verbs, change the last kana to the あ sound kana from within the same column (except for う, which becomes わ), and then add せる (る becomes ら, む becomes ま, く becomes か, etc.).
- 息子に野菜を食べさせる。I make my son eat vegetables.
- 友達にトマトを育てさせる。I make my friend grow tomatoes.
- 忘年会で先輩たちが後輩に歌を歌わせた。At the end of year party, the seniors made the juniors sing a song.
- 友達が私の携帯を壊したので、新しいのを買わせます。Since my friend broke my phone, I will make them buy me a new one.
- 嫌な仕事は後輩にさせる。I let my juniors do the work that I don't want to do.
- 親を心配させることは、してはいけない。You should not do anything that would make your parents worry.
- 夜遅くに会社に来させるのはよくない。It is not good to make people come to the company late at night.
- 犬を呼んで、こっちに来させる。To call the dog and make it come to you.
Caution
With causative, either に, or を can mark the doer of the action that せる, or させる is linked to (not が). This is because the actual 'doer' of the action is considered to be the person that is making/letting someone perform that action. に will usually imply that someone was 'let' do something, while を implies 'make'.- 誰かに心配をさせる。To let someone worry about you.
- 誰かを心配させる。To make someone worry about you.
Fun Fact
Because the actual 'doer' in causative verb sentences will be marked with が (as is always the case), the literal translation of せる and させる is closer to the following:(A) が (B) に楽しませる - For (A) to cause fun 'in' (B).
(A) が (B) を楽しませる - For (A) to cause fun 'through' (B).
It is these standard meanings of the particles に (a location) and を (a target) that will create the 'let', or 'make' nuance when using せる, or させる.
Synonyms
Examples
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学校に行きたくない子を行かせる。
(Someone) makes the kid who doesn't want to go to school go.
友達を朝４時に起こして、帰らせた。
I woke my friend up at four in the morning and made him go home.
私は生徒に勉強することを楽しませます。
I make/let students enjoy studying.
友達を無理やりお化け屋敷に行かせたから、怒られた。
I was gotten mad at because I insistently made my friend go to a haunted house.
お兄ちゃんが妹を泣かせた。
My older brother made my younger sister cry.
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Causative verb Introduction
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Page 144 [CH 48]
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Page 388
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Verb［せる・させる］ – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (10 in total)
Asher
Thanks for letting us know about this! I have just added ‘Colloquial’ to the tense information for this question. Ideally all questions should tell you in the tense information if a colloquial form is expected, but it appears that this information was missing from this question! Sorry for the inconvenience
rexd
Oh, awesome! Thanks for that.
BestUsedCarSales
Weird question.
In English, we use a construction that is something like “I made myself practice guitar every day.” And this implies that is was difficult, and we didn’t always want to be doing it.
Does this translate into Japanese, where you could use a reflexive pronoun to imply this. Example, “jibun wo saseru” = “I made myself do it.”
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