Telling what you were made to do and what you chose in Japanese: 行かされました and ことを選びました

Level B2

Telling what you were made to do and what you chose in Japanese: 行かされました and ことを選びました

Every Saturday you went to a meeting you didn't want to go to, and in the end you changed jobs. To tell that story well, you have to say who decided what. One idea runs through this lesson: 上司に行かされました (jōshi ni ikasaremashita) puts the decision on someone else, and 行くことを選びました (iku koto o erabimashita) puts it on you.

Recap: the pieces of the story

とき places an event in a story: 学生のとき、カフェで働いていました (gakusei no toki, kafe de hataraite imashita), “when I was a student, I worked at a café”. The passive tells an event from the side of the person affected, and the doer takes に: 友達に本を借りられました (tomodachi ni hon o kariraremashita), “a friend borrowed my book”.

The causative says who makes someone act. From 行く (iku, go) comes 行かせる (ikaseru, make go): 私が息子を学校に行かせました (watashi ga musuko o gakkō ni ikasemashita), “I made my son go to school”. なければなりません says something is required: 八時に来なければなりません (hachiji ni konakereba narimasen), “you have to come at eight”. ことにしました says what you decided: 公園に行くことにしました (kōen ni iku koto ni shimashita), “I've decided to go to the park”. This lesson builds on all of them.

The words for today

選ぶ (erabu) means choose: there are several options and you take one. Its polite past is 選びました (erabimashita). 上司 (jōshi) is your boss, the person above you at work. 大変 (taihen) describes something tough to get through, and 大変でした (taihen deshita) is “it was tough”. 前の仕事 (mae no shigoto) is your previous job. 会議 (kaigi) is a meeting. 使役受身形 (shieki ukemikei) is only the name of the new form, the causative-passive: you need to use the form, not to remember its name.

Model: why B left a job

Listen once without reading. A asks about B's last job, and B tells what happened, in order. どう (dō) asks how. 毎週 (maishū) is every week, and 毎週土曜日 (maishū doyōbi) is every Saturday. 行きたくなかったんですか (ikitakunakatta n desu ka) is the past negative of 行きたい (ikitai, want to go) with the んです that asks for an explanation. それから (sorekara) means after that. 休めます (yasumemasu) is the potential of 休む (yasumu, rest). Then listen for the two key moments: 上司に会議に行かされました, and カフェで働くことを選びました.

The pattern: someone made you go

Start from 行かせる, “make go”. With the passive added, it means “be made to go”: 行かせられる (ikaserareru), which usually shortens to 行かされる (ikasareru). The polite past is 行かされました (ikasaremashita), the form you only had to recognize so far in 息子は学校に行かされました (musuko wa gakkō ni ikasaremashita); now you use it. The longer 行かせられました (ikaseraremashita) means the same. This lesson needs this one verb; for others, see the lesson “Japanese causative and causative-passive forms”.

The person who made you go takes に, as with the passive. The place you went to takes に too, so 上司に会議に行かされました has two に with two different jobs: 上司に is who pushed, 会議に is where to. You, the one who went, normally go unsaid. Swap the person and the place to tell other stories. 日曜日なのに (nichiyōbi na no ni) adds “even though it was Sunday”.

…に…に行かされました

Two sides of one event

上司が私を会議に行かせました (jōshi ga watashi o kaigi ni ikasemashita) tells the event from the boss's side: the boss takes が, you take を, and the verb is the causative. 上司に会議に行かされました tells it from your side: the boss takes に and the verb is causative-passive.

It's the same shift as in 友達に本を借りられました: the doer moves to に, and the sentence speaks for the person it happened to. English would say “my boss made me go” either way; “I was made to go” is here only to show the viewpoint. Careful: in 息子に魚を食べさせました (musuko ni sakana o tabesasemashita), に marks the one who ate; in 上司に会議に行かされました, it marks the one who pushed. The end of the verb sets the role. When the hard experience is your own, the second sentence is usually the one you want.

The pattern: what you chose

選ぶ takes を, and a noun can go straight in: お茶を選びました (ocha o erabimashita), “I chose tea”, 図書館を選びました (toshokan o erabimashita), “I chose the library”. To choose an action, first turn the verb into a noun with こと, the same こと as in ことにしました: dictionary form + こと + を. So 働く (hataraku, work) gives カフェで働くことを選びました (kafe de hataraku koto o erabimashita). English goes straight from “chose” to “to work”, but 働くを選びました doesn't work in Japanese: the こと is missing.

To choose not to do something, use the ない form: 会議に行かないことを選びました (kaigi ni ikanai koto o erabimashita).

働く／行かないことを選びました

One meeting, five stories

All five sentences are about going to a meeting, and they differ in who decided. 会議に行きました only reports the trip and doesn't say who decided. 会議に行かなければなりませんでした says it was required, but names nobody. 上司に会議に行かされました names the person who decided for you. 会議に行くことにしました says you made the decision. 会議に行くことを選びました also makes the decision yours, and adds that you had other options and took this one.

So when you explain a hard experience, first ask who decided, then pick the sentence. One story can hold both, as in the model: pressure from someone else, then a step of your own.

Just to recognize: pushed doesn't always mean bad

行かされました says the decision wasn't yours, and very often that you'd rather not have gone. It doesn't say how things turned out. 母に学校に行かされました。でも、今はよかったと思います (haha ni gakkō ni ikasaremashita. demo, ima wa yokatta to omoimasu): the mother decided, and now the speaker thinks it was a good thing. よかった (yokatta) is the past of いい (ii, good). The words around the form tell you how the speaker feels. You only need to recognize this sentence.

Your turn, and the summary

When you were a student, your mother made you go to the library every week. You didn't want to. After that, you chose to work at a library. Cover the sentences below and tell that story in three short steps, with 母に in the first and ことを選びました in the last. Check only afterwards; another person or another place is even better.

In short: person + に, place + に, 行かされました when someone else decided; verb + こと + を選びました when you decided and had other options; 行きました alone doesn't say who decided.

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