This grammar lets you say that you make someone do something. It also lets you say that you let someone do something.
Verb [stem] + させるPrimary
This grammar lets you say that you make someone do something. It also lets you say that you let someone do something.
先生は生徒を廊下に立たせた。
The teacher made the student stand in the hallway.
お母さんは子供に好きなアニメを見させてあげた。
The mother let her child watch their favorite anime.
疲れているようだから、今日はもう彼を働かせない方がいい。
He seems tired, so it's better not to make him work anymore today.
この度は、貴重な経験をさせていただき、誠にありがとうございます。
Thank you very much for allowing me to have this valuable experience on this occasion.
面白そうだったので、弟にそのゲームをやらせてみた。
It looked fun, so I let my little brother try playing that game.
This grammar can mean two things. It can mean 'make someone do'. It can also mean 'let someone do'. You must look at the rest of the sentence. This will tell you which meaning it is. Helping verbs often mean 'let'. Not using them often means 'make'.
This is different from the passive form. It is also different from the causative-passive form. The causative form means you make someone do something. The passive form means something happens to you. The causative-passive means you are forced to do something.
Watch out: How you mark the person doing the action changes. If the action has no direct object (like 'go'), you usually use に. But you can use を if you force them. If the action has a direct object (like 'eat'), you must use に for the person. This stops confusion with the object, which uses を. For example, 'Mom makes the child eat vegetables' is 「母は子供に野菜を食べさせる」.
Don't use this when you want to say you did something yourself. For example, you can't say "I made myself eat." There are two ways to change verbs. For some verbs, add "させる" to the stem. For others, change the last sound to "a" and add "せる." "する" becomes "させる." "来る" becomes "来させる."
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