Friday, April 21, 2006
To Make & Made To...
Yes, today we'll have a look at what posh people call 'causitive actions'. Causitives describe situations where an action is performed because of an external influence exerting pressure. Causitives sentences can either be from the point-of-view (POV) of the person (or entity) exerting the pressure or from the POV of the person (or entity) being made to do the thing. Let's have a look at some English examples first:
The First Type
First, we'll look at the it from the POV of the person doing the making. The structure is:
[the person doing the making] は [the person being made] に [verb clause]。
There is also some verb conjugation going on as follows:
English: The union made it's member's go on strike.
Jenglish: [union][member's][strike+made]
日本語： 労働組合は会員にストライキをさせました。
union = 労働組合 = ろう・どう・くみ・あい
member = 会員 = かい・いん
English: His girlfriend made him buy her flowers.
Jenglish: [His girlfriend][flowers][buy+made]
日本語： 彼のガールフレンドは彼に花を買わせました。
The Second Type
Next, we look at the other point-of-view:
[the person being made] は [the person doing the making] に [verb clause]。
Again, there is some conjugation going on:
English: The teacher made me finish my homework in class.
Jenglish: [me][teacher][class][in][homework][finish+made]
日本語： 私は先生に授業に宿題を完成させられました。
to finish (complete) = 完成する = かん・せい
English: As a child my parents made me clean my teeth three times a day.
Jenglish: [as a child][me][parents][teeth][3 times a day][clean+made]
日本語： 子供の時、私は両親に歯を一日に３回みがかされました。
Enjoy!
またね。。。
- The union made it's member's go on strike.
- His girlfriend made him buy her flowers.
- The teacher made me finish my homework in class.
- As a child my parents made me clean my teeth three times a day.
The First Type
First, we'll look at the it from the POV of the person doing the making. The structure is:
[the person doing the making] は [the person being made] に [verb clause]。
There is also some verb conjugation going on as follows:
- For ーる verbs, drop the final ーる and add ーさせる
- For ーう verbs, drop the final ーう and add ーわせる
- For all other ーう verbs, drop the final ーう and add ーあせる
- する becomes させる
- くる becomes こさせる
English: The union made it's member's go on strike.
Jenglish: [union][member's][strike+made]
日本語： 労働組合は会員にストライキをさせました。
union = 労働組合 = ろう・どう・くみ・あい
member = 会員 = かい・いん
English: His girlfriend made him buy her flowers.
Jenglish: [His girlfriend][flowers][buy+made]
日本語： 彼のガールフレンドは彼に花を買わせました。
The Second Type
Next, we look at the other point-of-view:
[the person being made] は [the person doing the making] に [verb clause]。
Again, there is some conjugation going on:
- For ーる verbs, drop the final ーる and add ーさせられる
- For ーう verbs, drop and add ーわされる
- For ーすverbs, drop ーう and add ーあせられる
- For the other ーう verbs, drop the final ーう and add ーあせれる
- する becomes させられる
- くる becomes こさせられる
English: The teacher made me finish my homework in class.
Jenglish: [me][teacher][class][in][homework][finish+made]
日本語： 私は先生に授業に宿題を完成させられました。
to finish (complete) = 完成する = かん・せい
English: As a child my parents made me clean my teeth three times a day.
Jenglish: [as a child][me][parents][teeth][3 times a day][clean+made]
日本語： 子供の時、私は両親に歯を一日に３回みがかされました。
Enjoy!
またね。。。
Comments:
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Wow, "causative verbs" are quite difficult, aren't they?
I think you've already got the basic points perfectly.
(^.^)b good!
Japanese people study English "causative verbs" in junior high school, and are taught 3 verbs;
make, have, let
Make:
Her mother makes her practice the piano 5 hours a day.
彼女の母親は、彼女に１日５時間ピアノの練習をさせます。
Have:
I had my hair cut yesterday.
私は昨日、髪を切りました。
We don't say,
私の髪は、昨日切られました。
It's very strange.
※Japanese people can make a mistake to say like this;
I cut my hair yesterday.
...of course, I don't cut my hair by myself!
Let:
He let me drive his car.
彼は、私に彼の車を運転させてくれました。
Then, it might be not so easy to translate distinctively these three.
She made her son an actor.
She had her son an actor.
She let her son an actor.
Causative verbs made me confused...
I think you've already got the basic points perfectly.
(^.^)b good!
Japanese people study English "causative verbs" in junior high school, and are taught 3 verbs;
make, have, let
Make:
Her mother makes her practice the piano 5 hours a day.
彼女の母親は、彼女に１日５時間ピアノの練習をさせます。
Have:
I had my hair cut yesterday.
私は昨日、髪を切りました。
We don't say,
私の髪は、昨日切られました。
It's very strange.
※Japanese people can make a mistake to say like this;
I cut my hair yesterday.
...of course, I don't cut my hair by myself!
Let:
He let me drive his car.
彼は、私に彼の車を運転させてくれました。
Then, it might be not so easy to translate distinctively these three.
She made her son an actor.
She had her son an actor.
She let her son an actor.
Causative verbs made me confused...
# posted by 
: 11:06 am
: 11:06 am
She made her son an actor.
She had her son an actor.
She let her son an actor.
Ummm. Maybe better to say:
She made her son into an actor (implying she helped him), or
She made her son become an actor (implying she forced him).
She had her son become an actor.
She let her son become an actor.
Two-Kanji-A-Day Matt and myself we revising causitives the other night and were finding it hard to properly grasp.
Post a Comment
She had her son an actor.
She let her son an actor.
Ummm. Maybe better to say:
She made her son into an actor (implying she helped him), or
She made her son become an actor (implying she forced him).
She had her son become an actor.
She let her son become an actor.
Two-Kanji-A-Day Matt and myself we revising causitives the other night and were finding it hard to properly grasp.
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