Meaning
The causative form shows that someone makes another person do an action or lets them do it.
Formation
- Group 1: the -i syllable shifts to the -a row plus せる: 読みます → 読ませる; an -i stem gives わ
- Group 2: ます → させる: 食べます → 食べさせる
- Group 3: させる, 来させる (kosaseru)
- With a transitive verb the doer takes に, with an intransitive one を or に
When to use it
- Core use
- Make or let someone do it
Example
母は私に野菜を食べさせます
My mother makes me eat vegetables.
Important notes
- Pay attention to the word form before the construction and to the particles around it.
Common mistakes
- Do not translate the pattern word for word; first identify its function in the whole situation.