Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 6: 4/16

せる・させる (Causative)To make/let/have (somebody do something)

either に or を can mark the doer

Structure

Examples:
[る1]Verb() + せる
[る5]Verb → (すわ) + せる
[う]Verb(うた) + せる
[く]Verb(ある) + せる
[す]Verb(はな) + せる
[つ]Verb() + せる
[ぬ]Verb() + せる
[ぶ]Verb() + せる
[む]Verb(やす) + せる
[ぐ]Verb(およ) + せる

Exceptions:
するさせる
くるこさせる

Details

  • Register

    Standard

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(しえき) (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, , 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.).

As usual, する and () have special conjugation rules. する will be replaced completely by させる (in a similar way to how できる completely replaces する in the 'potential' form). () will become ()させる.

Caution

With causative, either , or 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. will usually imply that someone was 'let' do something, while implies 'make'.

  • 誰か心配(しんぱい)させる
    To let someone worry about you.
  • 誰か心配(しんぱい)させる
    To make someone worry about you.

Fun Fact

Because the actual 'doer' in causative verb sentences will be marked with (as is always the case), the literal translation of せる and させる is closer to the following:

(A) が (B) 楽しませる - For (A) to cause fun 'in' (B).

(A) が (B) 楽しませる - For (A) to cause fun 'through' (B).

It is these standard meanings of the particles (a location) and (a target) that will create the 'let', or 'make' nuance when using せる, or させる.

Examples

--:--

    (にい)ちゃん(いもうと)()かせた

    My older brother made my younger sister cry.

    学校(がっこう)()たくない()()かせる

    (Someone) makes the kid who doesn't want to go to school go.

    友達(ともだち)(あさ)4時(よじ)()こして、(かえ)らせた

    I woke my friend up at four in the morning and made him go home.

    (わたし)生徒(せいと)勉強(べんきょう)すること(たの)しませます

    I make/let students enjoy studying.

    友達(ともだち)無理(むり)やりお()屋敷(やしき)()かせたから、(おこ)られた。

    I was gotten mad at because I insistently made my friend go to a haunted house.

  • Get more example sentences!

    Premium users get access to 12 example sentences on all Grammar Points.

Self-Study Sentences

Study your own way!

Add sentences and study them alongside Bunpro sentences.

Verb[せる・させる] – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (10 in total)

  • Asher

    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

    rexd

    Oh, awesome! Thanks for that.

  • BestUsedCarSales

    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.”

Got questions about Verb[せる・させる]? Join us to discuss, ask, and learn together!

Join the Discussion