Causative-Passive Verbs

Now that I've reviewed conjugations for both passive and causative verbs, it's time to combine the two into a more complex grammatical hassle. This form is achieved by first conjugating to the causative form, and then conjugating that to the passive form.

Ichidan Verbs

• Drop the る and add させる
• 食べる   ->   食べさせる
• Drop the る and add られる
• 食べさせる   ->   食べさせられる

Godan Verbs

• Change the final syllable to the あ equivalent and add せる
• 走る   ->   走らせる
• Drop the る and add られる
• 走らせる   ->   走らせられる

Exceptions

• する  ->   させられる
• くる   ->   こさせられる

That's a bit of a mouthful. There are methods of shortening this conjugation, but they're more slangy and deserve their own post. For now, I'll stick with these.

The causative-passive form is used to express "Someone was made to do something." Genki gives the following example sentence structure:

(Puppet) は (puppet master) に (action)
The puppet was made by the puppet master to perform this action.

Note that in normal causative sentences, the director (or "puppet master" here) is generally the one marked with は or が, while the actor ("puppet" here) is marked with に. The reverse is true with causative-passive sentences.

私は友達に高い晩ご飯を払わせられた。
I was made by my friend to pay for his expensive dinner.

子どもはお姉さんに野菜をたくさん食べさせられた。
The kid was made to eat lots of vegetables by his sister.

たけしはジームに授業のあとに女の子を話させられた。
Takeshi was forced by Jim to talk to the girl after class.

リーさんは先生に毎日スペイン語を三時間勉強させられた。
Lee-san was made by his teacher to study Spanish for three hours every day.

トムはお母さんに家族にデザートを焼かせられた。
Tom was forced by his mom to bake desert for the family.

Expressing Decisions with ことにする

The short form present tense of a verb + ことにする means "decide to do..." The verb in the initial clause can be in either the affirmative or negative form.

卒業のあと、カナダで新しい家を買うことにした。
After graduation, we've decided to buy a new house in Canada.

お金を返すまで、リーさんに会わないことにした。
I've decided not to see Lee-san until he returns my money.

People often use the volitional form with this construct to suggest doing something, as opposed to directly conjugating the original verb to that form. This usage implies that some amount of deliberation occurred before a decision was made.

今年の秋、東京に行くことにしよう。
Let's visit Tokyo this fall.

九月に辞職するときに、家を売ってドイツに引っ越すことにしよう。
When I quit my job in September, let's sell the house and move to Germany.

Finally, if the する portion is instead conjugated to している form, it means that you've decided to do something as a regular practice. As Genki says, "You've made up your mind that you should do something and have stuck to that determination."

晩ご飯のあとで、お菓子をたくさん食べないことにしてる。
I make sure to not eat a lot of sweets after dinner.

毎日一時間に運動することにしてた。
I've made it a rule to exercise for an hour every day.

Expressing "Even if" with ても

Adding も to the て form of a word, whether it's a noun, adjective, or verb, will result in an "even if" meaning for that word. Examples will help demonstrate this.

彼女を殺しても、又彼に会いたかったよ。
Even if he killed his girlfriend, I still wanted to meet him.

リーさんは話しすぎても、面白かったね。
Lee-san was interesting, even if he talked too much.

Now may be a good time to review the positive and negative て forms for everything, since I haven't done much practice with those lately.

Positive:
訪ねる  ->    訪ねて
忙しい   ->    忙しくて
好き      ->    好きで
靴下     ->    靴下で

Negative:
訪ねない          ->    訪ねなくて
忙しくない         ->    忙しくなくて
好きじゃない    ->    好きじゃなくて
靴下じゃない   ->    靴下じゃなくて

Words in this ても form don't have a tense, but the clause that follows it can be in either present or past tense.

彼はばかでも、合格できる。
Even if he's an idiot, he can pass the test.

車は利かなくても、ダンスのクラブに行くよ。
We'll go to dance club, even if the car's not working.

お前は忙しくても、宿題をしてほうがいいよね。
Even if you're busy, you should still do your homework.

好きじゃなくても、野菜をたくさん食べたい。
I want to eat lots of vegetables, even if I don't like them.

Using まで with Verbs

A verb + まで means "until [verb]." This results in the common sentence format: A まで B, which would mean "Until A, B." This usually results in A describing some kind of completion or change, since B will continue to occur until A has completed. The verb in A is always affirmative and in the present tense.

宿題をするまで、出ないよ。
I'm not leaving until I finish my homework.

この漢字は分かるまで、毎日三時間勉強する。
Until I understand this kanji, I will study for three hours every day.

If the subject of A differs from the subject of B, then A's subject is marked with the particle が instead of は.

トムがお金を返すまで、車を運転し続けている。
Until Tom returns my money, I'll continue driving his car.

学生がこの単語を覚えるまで、宿題を与える。
I will assign homework until my students memorize this vocabulary.

Remember that A will remain in the present tense even if the rest of the sentence is in the past tense.

就職するまで、お金がなかった。
I didn't have any money until I got a job.

作文を書くまで、あまり食べなかったよ。
I didn't eat much until I wrote that essay.

How to Use 方

Did you get that pun in the title? Huh?? It's because 方 is used as a suffix to describe "the way in which the action is performed" or "how to do X." Brilliant.

方 is attached to a verb stem to convey its "how to do" meaning.

歩き方 - the way someone walks

リーさんの歩き方はおかしいね。
The way Lee-san walks is funny.

かもしださんの教え方は難しい。
The way Kamoshida teaches is difficult.

Nouns that accompany verbs in this state are followed by the particle の, rather than something like を or が.

アヤトの猫の持ち方はかわいいでしょ。
The way Ayato holds his kitty is cute.

トムの岩の投げ方は幼い。
The way Tom throws rocks is childish.

する verbs take the form of: 勉強のし方.

ベニーの運転のし方は危ないよ。
The way Benny drives is dangerous.

その単語の綴り方を教えてください。
Could you tell me how to spell that word?

Causative Verbs

There's yet another verb conjugation that can be performed to achieve the "causative form" of a verb. Now, verbs in the causative form can mean one of two things: 1. To make someone do X, or 2. To let someone do X. Unfortunately, the only way to distinguish the two meanings is context.

Ichidan Verbs

• Drop the る and add させる
• 食べる   ->   食べさせる
• 震える   ->    震えさせる

Godan Verbs

• Change the final syllable to the あ equivalent and add せる
• 走る   ->    走らせる
• 買う    ->    買わせる

Exceptions

• する   ->    させる
• くる    ->    こさせる

The basic sentence structure used with this type of verb is: Director は / が Cast に Action. The Director is the one who is making the others perform the action, marked with the usual topic particles. The Cast are the ones who are made (or allowed to) to perform the action, generally marked with に. And of course, the Action is in causative form.

お父さんは子どもに野菜を食べさせました。
The father made/let his child eat vegetables.

As you can see from this sentence, we have no way of knowing whether this father forced his kid to eat the vegetables, or if the kid actually wanted them and he allowed him to eat them. However, if the causative verb is in て form and followed by あげる, くれる, or もらう, then it almost always will take on the "let" meaning.

先生は私に英語を話させてくれませんでした。
The professor did not allow me to speak in English.

Those are two examples from Genki demonstrating what I've written thus far. Now, a causative verb in て form plus ください can also be used to say something like "Let me do X."

友達に会いに行かせてください。
Please let me go see my friend.

There is a slang form of causative verbs as well, but I think I'll do a separate post on that since this is already a bit of a brain dump. For now, here's a few more practice sentences.

母が弟に部屋を掃除させた。
My mom made my brother clean his room.

リーさんは犬にチートーズをたくさん食べさせた。
Lee-san let his dog eat a lot of Cheetos.

この美しい絵を取らせてください。
Please let me take this beautiful painting.

料理人は毎回ラムネを飲ませる。
The chef makes me drink ramune every time.

アヤトはユイにチョコレートをたくさん買わせた。
Ayato let Yui buy a lot of chocolates.

ジーナという魚を探させてください。
Please let me look for my fish, Gina.

More Conditionals - ～ば

Aren't Japanese conditionals the best? Yeah! The one I'm going to look at today is the ～ば form, which can be applied to verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Here are the conjugations for it (and holy crap, there are zero exceptions - not even する or くる).

Affirmative form:

• Change the last syllable to the え equivalent and add ば
• 食べる   ->    食べれば
• 分かる   ->    分かれば
• 買う       ->     買えば
• する      ->     すれば
• くる       ->      くれば

Negative form:

•  Drop the い in ない and add ければ
• 食べない     ->    食べなければ
• 分からない  ->    分からなければ
• 買わない     ->    買わなければ
• しない          ->     しなければ
• こない          ->    こなければ

The pattern used in sentences with this conjugation is typically "Clause A ば clause B" to say "If A, then B."

Now, it's difficult to distinguish this from other conditionals, but there are a few ways. One, it's usually used when condition A results in a non-negative outcome in B. I wouldn't want to use it to say something like "If I walk, I will be late for the train," as Genki says.

Two, it's more neutral in that the "if" part in A doesn't make assumptions about the truthfulness of the condition. For example, if I were to use ば to say something like "If you're a student, you get a discount," I'm not assuming that this person is a student. I'm imply stating a result that will occur, should the condition hold true.

Three, we can kind of rule out a few scenarios where we wouldn't use it, simply based on our other conditionals. なら is context-sensitive and more like saying "given that..." And と is mostly used for stating facts or natural consequences.

With all of that in mind, I'm going to write some example sentences. I still need to read more to better understand how each of these conditionals are most commonly used.

本を読めば、合格できる。
If you read the book, you can pass the test.

映画は面白くなければ、見なくちゃよ。
If the movie isn't interesting, you don't have to see it.

早く寝れば、早く起きる。
If you go to bed early, you'll wake up early.

昼ごはんを食べなければ、家で晩ご飯を食べてもいいよ。
If you don't each lunch, you can eat dinner at my place.

Due to the aforementioned "non-negative outcome" that typically goes along with this conditional, it's also often used in giving advice. This results in clause B often being something generic like いいんですよ.

昼寝すれば、大丈夫ですよ。
If you take a nap, you'll be fine.

両親に話せれば、いいんですよ。
If you talk to your parents, it'll be fine.

Expressing "like" with のような / のように

When speaking, we often describe things via comparison using words such as "like" or "similar to." In Japanese, the same thing can be expressed in the following format:

A のような B

This states that Noun B is like A, in that it has the same quality or appearance as A. Another way of thinking of it is "An A-like B", to match the given Japanese word order. For example, プルートのような犬 for "a dog like Pluto", or "a Pluto-like dog."

東京のような都会に住みたい。
I want to live in a city like Tokyo.

昨日学校で、トキのような猫が見たよ。
Yesterday at school, I saw a cat like Toki.

リーさんにお兄さんののような時計を買ってあげた。
I bought a watch for Lee-san like his brother's.

If you want to use this "like" type phrasing to express similarity in relation to a verb or adjective, then のように is used instead.

トマのように親切な彼氏が欲しいよ。
I want a boyfriend who's kind like Toma.

その男の人はくまのように強いね。
That man's as strong as a bear.

あの子どものグループは小さいの犬のようにうるさいな。
That group of kids is noisy like a little dog.

Using のに to Connect Two Facts

As the title suggests, のに can be used to connect A and B as follows: "Even though A, B." B holds true, despite the fact that A is also true. So, "B, despite the fact A." I find it much easier to think of it as "even though..." because it follows the same grammar pattern and expresses a similar idea.

The plain form is used for sentence A. And as always, if it ends in a noun or na-adjective, な is required prior to のに.

母は親切な人なのに、よく怒ってるよ。
Even though my mom's a nice person, she's often angry.

リーさんは食べ過ぎるのに、痩せってる。
Lee's thin, despite eating too much.

アリスはお金をたくさん貯えたのに、高いフォンを買いたくなかった。
Even though Alice saved a lot of money, she didn't want to buy an expensive phone.

泣いていたのに、男の子はいじめ続けていた。
The boy continued to bully her, even though she was crying.

Because のに is used to connect two facts, the sentences surrounding it cannot contain things like requests or suggestions. Something like けど or から would be used instead.

Commands with なさい

A verb stem plus なさい can be used to give quite the direct command to somebody. It carries the implication that you're talking down to the person or know better than them - "that you think you are more mature, know better, and should be obeyed." Thanks, Genki.

Because of this connotation, it's not often used in average conversations between friends. It's more commonly used when parents are talking to their children, or perhaps when teachers talk to their students. It's also often seen in exam instructions.

部屋を掃除して、洗たくをしなさい。
Clean your room and do the laundry.

祖母が来るの前、宿題をして仕舞いなさい。
Finish your homework before your grandmother comes.

かっこの中に単語を入れなさい。
Fill in the blanks with a word. (Genki example)

毎週姉に手紙を送りなさい。
Send your sister a letter every week.

To give the command "stop doing x...", a verb phrase in the plain form can be nominalized with の, and then followed by やめなさい. The を can be added after の too, but that's often dropped in spoken Japanese, anyway.

弟を殴るのをやめなさい！
Stop hitting your brother!

家のとなりに行くのやめなさい。
Stop going to the neighbor's house.