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
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.).
As usual, する and 来る 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). 来る will become 来させる.
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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お兄ちゃんが妹を泣かせた。
My older brother made my younger sister cry.
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 yelled at because I insistently made my friend go to a haunted house.
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Causative verb Introduction
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Causative Verbs
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Particles used with the causative
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Causative Form Part ② [video]
Japanese Ammo with Misa
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Genki II 1st Edition
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みんなの日本語 II
Page 144 [CH 48]
Genki II 2nd Edition
Page 234
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 388
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
Page 211
[AIAIJ] An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese
Page 53
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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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