Causative and Passive Verbs

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Contents 1 Causative and Passive Verbs 2 Causative Verbs 2.1 Examples 2.2 A Shorter Alternative 2.3 Examples 3 Passive Verbs 3.1 Examples 4 Using passive form to show politeness 4.1 Examples 5 Causative-Passive Forms 5.1 Examples 5.2 A Shorter Alternative 5.3 Examples

Causative and Passive Verbs

We will now learn the last two major types of verb conjugations: causative and passive forms. While there are many reason to put this in the Essential Grammar section, I have decided to put it as the first lesson of this section because: 1) The essential grammar section was getting really big, 2) Causative and passive forms are not as commonly used as other verb forms. These two verb conjugations are traditionally covered together because of the notorious causative-passive combination. We will now go over what all these things are and how they are used.

Causative Verbs

Verbs conjugated into the causative form are used to indicate an action that someone makes happen. Like Captain Picard so succinctly puts it, the causative verb means to "make it so". This verb is usually used in the context of making somebody do something. The really confusing thing about the causative verb is that it can also mean to let someone do something. Or maybe this is a different type of verb with the exact same conjugation rules. Whichever the case may be, a verb in the causative form can mean either making or letting someone do something. The only good news is that when the causative form is used with 「あげる」and 「くれる」, it almost always means to "let someone do". Once you get used to it, surprisingly, it becomes quite clear which meaning is being used when.

（１）　全部食べさせた。- Made/Let (someone) eat it all.
（２）　全部食べさせてくれた。- Let (someone) eat it all.

Sample ru-verbs Plain Causative 食べる 食べさせる 着る 着させる 信じる 信じさせる 寝る 寝させる 起きる 起きさせる 出る 出させる 掛ける 掛けさせる 捨てる 捨てさせる 調べる 調べさせる

Sample u-verbs Plain Causative ローマ字 ローマ字 (Caus.) 話す 話させる hanasu hanasaseru 聞く 聞かせる kiku kikaseru 泳ぐ 泳がせる oyogu oyogaseru 遊ぶ 遊ばせる asobu asobaseru 待つ 待たせる matu mataseru 飲む 飲ませる nomu nomaseru 直る 直らせる naoru naoraseru 死ぬ 死なせる shinu shinaseru 買う 買わせる kau kawaseru

Exception Verbs Positive Causative する させる くる こさせる

Examples

Here are some examples using the causative verb. Context will usually tell you which is being meant, but for our purposes we will assume that when the verb is used with 「あげる」 and 「くれる」（ください） it means "to let someone do" while it means, "to make someone do" when used without it.

（１）　先生が学生に宿題をたくさんさせた。- Teacher made students do lots of homework.
（２）　先生が質問をたくさん聞かせてくれた。- Teacher let [someone] ask lots of questions.
（３）　今日は仕事を休ませてください。- Please let me rest from work today. (Please let me take the day off today.)
（４）　その部長は、よく長時間働かせる。- That manager often make [people] work long hours.

When asking for permission to let someone do something, it is more common to use the 「～てもいい」 grammar.
（１）　トイレに行かせてくれますか。- Can you let me go to the bathroom? (Sounds like a prisoner, even in English)
（２）　トイレに行ってもいいですか。- Is it ok to go to the bathroom? (No problem here)

A Shorter Alternative

There is a shorter version of the causative conjugation, which I will go over for completeness. However, since this version is mostly used in very rough slang, you are free to skip this section until you've had time to get used to the regular form. Also, textbooks usually don't cover this version of the causative verb.

The key difference in this version is that all verbs become an u-verbs with a 「す」 ending. Therefore, the resulting verb would conjugate just like any other u-verb ending in 「す」 such as 「話す」 or 「指す」. The first part of the conjugation is the same as the original causative form. However, for ru-verbs, instead of attaching 「させる」, you attach 「さす」 and for u-verbs, you attach 「す」 instead of 「せる」. As a result, all the verbs become an u-verb ending in 「す」.

Examples

（１）　同じことを何回も言わすな！- Don't make me say the same thing again and again!
（２）　お腹空いているんだから、なんか食べさしてくれよ。- I'm hungry so let me eat something.

Passive Verbs

Passive verbs are verbs that are done to the (passive) subject. Unlike English style of writing which discourages the use of the passive form, passive verbs in Japanese are often used in essays and articles.

Sample ru-verbs Plain Passive 食べる 食べられる 着る 着られる 信じる 信じられる 寝る 寝られる 起きる 起きられる 出る 出られる 掛ける 掛けられる 捨てる 捨てられる 調べる 調べられる

Sample u-verbs Plain Passive ローマ字 ローマ字 (Pass.) 話す 話される hanasu hanasareru 聞く 聞かれる kiku kikareru 泳ぐ 泳がれる oyogu oyogareru 遊ぶ 遊ばれる asobu asobareru 待つ 待たれる matu matareru 飲む 飲まれる nomu nomareru 直る 直られる naoru naorareru 死ぬ 死なれる shinu shinareru 買う 買われる kau kawareru

Exception Verbs Positive Passive する される くる こられる

Examples

（１）　ポリッジが誰かに食べられた！- The porridge was eaten by somebody!
（２）　みんなに変だと言われます。- I am told by everybody that [I'm] strange.
（３）　光の速さを超えるのは、不可能だと思われる。- Exceeding the speed of light is thought to be impossible.
（４）　この教科書は多くの人に読まれている。- This textbook is being read by a large number of people.
（５）　外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。- I was asked a question by a foreigner but I couldn't answer.
（６）　このパッケージには、あらゆるものが含まれている。 - Everything is included in this package. </p>

Using passive form to show politeness

While we will go over various types of grammar that express a politeness level above the normal -masu/-desu forms in the next lesson, it is useful to know that using passive form is another more polite way to express an action. In Japanese, a sentence is usually more polite when it is less direct. For example, it is more polite to refer to someone by his or her name and not by the direct pronoun "you". It is also more polite to ask a negative question than a positive one. (For example, 「しますか？」 vs. 「 しませんか？」) In a similar sense, using the passive form makes the sentence less direct because the subject does not directly perform the action. This makes it sound more polite. Here is the same sentence in increasing degrees of politeness.

（１）　どうする？- What will you do? (lit: How do?)
（２）　どうしますか？ - Regular polite.
（３）　どうされますか？- Passive polite.
（４）　どうなさいますか？- Honorific (to be covered next lesson)
（５）　どうなさいますでしょうか？- Honorific + a lesser degree of certainty.
Notice how the same sentence grows longer and longer as you get more and more indirect.

Examples

（１）　レシートはどうされますか？- What about your receipt? (lit: How will you do receipt?)
（２）　明日の会議に行かれるんですか？- Are you going to tomorrow's meeting?

Causative-Passive Forms

The causative-passive form is simply the combination of causative and passive conjugations to mean that the action of making someone do something was done to that person. This would effectively translate into, "[someone] is made to do [something]". The important thing to remember is the order of conjugation. The verb is first conjugated to the causative and then passive, never the other way around.

Examples

（１）　朝ご飯は食べたくなかったのに、食べさせられた。 - Despite not wanting to eat breakfast, I was made to eat it.
（２）　日本では、お酒を飲ませられることが多い。 - In Japan, the event of being made to drink is numerous.
（３）　あいつに二時間も待たせられた。 - I was made to wait 2 hours by that guy.
（４）　親に毎日宿題をさせられる。 - I am made to do homework everyday by my parent(s).

A Shorter Alternative

Going along with the shorter causative alternative, you can also use the same conjugation for the causative-passive form. I won't cover it in too much detail because the usefulness of this form is rather limited just like the shorter causative form itself. The idea is to simply used the shortened causative form instead of using the regular causative conjugation. The rest is the same as before. This form is normally used with only a limited set of verbs so here are a few examples to show you what this form looks like.

Examples

（１）　学生が廊下に立たされた。 - The student was made to stand in the hall.
（２）　日本では、お酒を飲まされることが多い。 - In Japan, the event of being made to drink is numerous.
（３）　あいつに二時間も待たされた。 - I was made to wait 2 hours by that guy.