Who made someone act in Japanese: the causative 行かせる and 食べさせる

Level B2

Who made someone act in Japanese: the causative 行かせる and 食べさせる

Your son didn’t want to go to school, but he went. Who is responsible? Japanese tells that story with one verb form, the causative: 私が行かせました (watashi ga ikasemashita). One idea runs through this lesson: the causative makes the person behind the action the subject, the person who acts takes を or に, and the context shows whether it was pressure or permission.

Recap: plain forms, favors, the passive and rules

Today’s form grows out of the plain negative: 行く (iku) gives 行かない (ikanai), and 食べる (taberu) gives 食べない (tabenai). You have also seen two ways of telling about an event that involves two people. 友達に手伝ってもらいました (tomodachi ni tetsudatte moraimashita) says a friend helped you, as a favor you received. 友達に本を借りられました (tomodachi ni hon o kariraremashita) uses the passive for something a friend did that affected you. And ことになっています (koto ni natte imasu) states a rule: ここでは飲まないことになっています, the rule here is not to drink. All four come back today.

Today’s words

使役形 (shiekikei) is the grammar name of the causative; you don’t need the term to use the form. 息子 (musuko) is a son and 娘 (musume) a daughter. For someone else’s children, add さん: 息子さん, 娘さん. 子供 (kodomo) here means your own children. 責任 (sekinin) is responsibility, and 一人で (hitori de) means alone.

Model: who made him go?

Listen once without reading. B’s son went to school even though he had said 行きたくない (ikitakunai), “I don’t want to go.” Then listen for the same verb in both stories: 行かせました (ikasemashita) is what B did with the son, and 行かせます (ikasemasu) is what B will do for the daughter, who wants to go. 誰が (dare ga) asks who did it, and 私が (watashi ga) answers “I’m the one.” 来週 (raishū) is next week and 海 (umi) is the sea or the beach. 一人では (hitori de wa) singles out “alone”: that is the part B won’t allow.

Building 行かせる and 食べさせる

For 行く, start from 行かない, drop ない and add せる: 行かせる (ikaseru). For 食べる, start from 食べない, drop ない and add させる: 食べさせる (tabesaseru). Other verbs of these two types follow the same steps; する and 来る have forms of their own.

The new verb then conjugates like 食べる: 行かせます (ikasemasu), 行かせました (ikasemashita), 行かせた (ikaseta), 行かせない (ikasenai), and in the same way 食べさせます (tabesasemasu), 食べさせました (tabesasemashita), 食べさせた (tabesaseta), 食べさせない (tabesasenai). In the two sentences below you hear the dictionary form: の after the verb turns the action into a noun, like “sending…” in English, and は presents it as the topic. 晩ご飯 (bangohan) is dinner.

行かせる: the person who goes takes を

The person behind the action comes first with が or は, and the person who goes takes を: 私が息子を学校に行かせました. The place keeps its に. Use が when the point is who did it, as in the answer to 誰が; use は, as in 私は娘を海に行かせませんでした, when you are simply talking about yourself. In these negative sentences you are saying you didn’t let her: 行かせませんでした (ikasemasen deshita), or plainly 行かせなかった (ikasenakatta). You will also hear に on the person with verbs like 行く, often when the person’s own wish matters; that is a tendency, and this lesson uses を.

…が…を…に行かせました

食べさせる: the person who eats takes に

食べる already has a を for the food: 魚を食べる. Japanese avoids two を on one verb, so the person who eats takes に: 私が息子に魚を食べさせました. That is why the two verbs differ. The endings work as before: 食べさせた (tabesaseta), 食べさせませんでした (tabesasemasen deshita), 食べさせなかった (tabesasenakatta).

…が…に…を食べさせました

Made or let? The context says

English has to choose between “made” and “let”; the Japanese verb is the same for both. So look at what comes before it. In 行きたくなかったのに (ikitakunakatta noni, “even though he didn’t want to go”), the person’s wish goes against the action and のに means “even though”: that is pressure. In 行きたいと言ったので (ikitai to itta node, “since she said she wanted to go”), the wish goes with the action and ので gives the reason: that is permission.

Without a clue like this, 息子を学校に行かせました stays open, and the translations in this lesson choose the likelier reading. There is also a third case: 子供に晩ご飯を食べさせるのは私の責任です simply says you feed your children, with nobody forced or allowed.

Rules about what you let others do

The plain negatives 行かせない and 食べさせない go straight before ことになっています, and the person keeps を or に: 子供を…行かせない, 子供に…食べさせない. うちでは (uchi de wa) means “at our house,” and 夜 (yoru) is night. A sentence like this explains a refusal by pointing to a rule rather than to one person’s decision.

With a friend or a superior, talk about a favor

行かせる and 食べさせる speak from above: a parent about a child, a teacher about a pupil, a boss about a junior. So 息子を駅に行かせました is fine from a parent. Said about a friend or someone you respect, these two verbs sound as if you were giving orders. Use てもらう instead: 友達に駅に行ってもらいました says you received a favor. The first に marks the friend and the second the place. With a superior or someone you respect, the more polite ていただく takes its place: 行っていただきました (itte itadakimashita). Both sentences say who went; what changes is your position toward that person.

Causative or passive? Read the end of the verb

息子にケーキを食べられました and 息子にケーキを食べさせました both contain 息子に, and in both your son is the one eating. The ending changes the story. 食べられました (taberaremashita) is the passive: he ate your cake, and it happened to you. 食べさせました (tabesasemashita) is the causative: you were behind it.

Just to recognize for now: the two can combine. 息子は学校に行かされました (musuko wa gakkō ni ikasaremashita) and 息子は魚を食べさせられました (musuko wa sakana o tabesaseraremashita) tell, from the son’s side, that he was made to act; you don’t need to build these forms yet.

Your turn, and the summary

Your daughter didn’t want to go to school and you made her; your son said he wanted to go to the beach and you let him. Cover the sentences below and say both, each with the reason first, then take responsibility with 私の責任です. Also say that you made your son eat fish, marking the person who eats with に. Check only afterward. In short: 行かせる and 食べさせる are built from 行か + せる and 食べ + させる; here the person who goes takes を and the person who eats takes に; and the words around the verb, such as のに and ので, show whether it was pressure or permission.

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