Japanese causatives: to let or to make, that is the question
In a Japanesepod101 episode, I was reminded again about the use of に vs を for causatives.
If we have an intransitive verb, like 働く and 泳ぐ, the causative like 働かせる and 泳がせる can mean either “to let someone do something” or “to make someone do something” depending on the particle used. に will make it “to let”, while を will make it “to make”.
子どもを働かせる
kodomo o hatarakaseru
to make one’s child work
kodomo o hatarakaseru
to make one’s child work
子どもに働かせない
kodomo ni hatarakasenai
to not let one’s child work
Handy reminder.
Tags: causative, particle, に, を
November 13th, 2008 at 7:42 am
mdnjt6z0gq80fsai
ある意味
December 26th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Hah. Wish I had read this a month ago. Handy indeed, thanks.
How did your Level 1 go?
December 30th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Level 1? Hehe, I think it’ll be hard for me to get a nice score in the listening test