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.