In this guide
- Introduction
- Japanese causative form: “let” or “make”?
- Build a causative, one verb group at a time
- Choose the particle for the person doing the action
- Japanese passive form: tell the receiver’s side
- The cake was eaten—but I’m the one affected
- When られる could mean “can”
- An English passive can describe a simple event
- One follow-up: being made to act
- Give someone else a turn to tell the story
- About the author
I like the way Japanese lets us explain how someone else’s actions affected us. Suppose someone eats the piece of cake you’d saved for later. You might want to do more than report what they ate. It was your dessert, and you were looking forward to it.
Now imagine you’d offered them that same piece of cake. They still do the eating, but you’ve given permission instead of losing something you wanted. That difference matters when you choose how to tell the story in Japanese.
The causative form lets you say that someone makes or allows another person to do something. The passive form tells the story from the side of the person or thing receiving an action, or someone affected by it. I find it useful to learn them together because keeping the people’s parts clear helps make sense of both.
In this guide, we’ll build the two forms and use them in small, everyday scenes. You’ll practise choosing the verb and the particles—the small words that show how the people and things fit into a sentence—so the sentence tells the story you intended.
Japanese causative form: “let” or “make”?
A causative says that someone gets another person to act, or allows them to act. Here is a sentence before that extra person is added:
ケンが本を読む。
Ken reads a book.
ケンが tells us who reads. 本を tells us what he reads: the book is the object of the action. Now the teacher decides that Ken will read:
先生はケンに本を読ませる。
The teacher lets Ken read a book. / The teacher makes Ken read a book.
The teacher is in charge of the action, but Ken still does the reading. は makes the teacher the topic of the sentence; ケンに names the person the teacher gets to act, and 本を is still the book. 読む has changed to the causative 読ませる.
Imagine Ken asks to read his favourite book during a quiet activity, and the teacher agrees: “lets Ken read.” If Ken wants to play but the teacher insists on reading, “makes Ken read” fits. The ending allows both meanings. What the people want and what is agreed or demanded tell you which translation to use.
Which meaning fits?
Ken asks to read his favourite book during a quiet activity. The teacher agrees.
先生はケンに本を読ませる。
Build a causative, one verb group at a time
Start with the dictionary form, such as 読む or 食べる. A dictionary’s group label tells you how to change it: group 1 (godan), group 2 (ichidan), or irregular. Check that label for an unfamiliar verb. Ending in る is not enough to make a verb group 2: 帰る and 走る are group 1.
Group 1: change the last kana, then add せる
Move the last kana to its matching a sound and add せる. For 読む, む becomes ま, giving 読ませる. Use the table to find the change for the verb you need. Final う is the special spelling: it becomes わ, so 買う becomes 買わせる.
| Last kana | Change to | Dictionary → causative |
|---|---|---|
| う | わ | 買う → 買わせる (buy) |
| く | か | 書く → 書かせる (write) |
| ぐ | が | 泳ぐ → 泳がせる (swim) |
| す | さ | 話す → 話させる (speak) |
| つ | た | 立つ → 立たせる (stand) |
| ぬ | な | 死ぬ → 死なせる (die) |
| ぶ | ば | 呼ぶ → 呼ばせる (call) |
| む | ま | 読む → 読ませる (read) |
| る | ら | 帰る → 帰らせる (go home) |
The final-う change
Yumi lets Ken buy bread. Complete the plain nonpast causative of 買う (buy, group 1). Use the full form ending in せる taught here.
ユミはケンにパンを＿。
Group 2: replace る with させる
Remove the final る and add させる. 食べる becomes 食べさせる, “let or make someone eat.” 見る becomes 見させる, “let or make someone see or watch.” The part before the final る stays as it is.
A group 2 verb
Yumi lets Ken eat some cake. Complete the plain nonpast causative of 食べる (eat, group 2). Use the full form ending in させる taught here.
ユミはケンにケーキを＿。
The two irregular changes
Learn する → させる and 来る → 来させる as whole changes. 来る is read くる, but 来させる is こさせる. A noun joined to する follows the same change: 勉強する, “study,” becomes 勉強させる.
The irregular change
Write the causative of 来る (come). Use the full form ending in させる taught here, without making it past.
来る → ＿
To describe a past event, replace the new verb’s final る with た: 読ませる → 読ませた, 食べさせる → 食べさせた, and 来させる → 来させた. You change the final る after making the causative; the causative ending itself does not mean past.
Choose the particle for the person doing the action
I’d learn the object-taking pattern first because it gives every noun an obvious job. In 車を洗う, “wash a car,” the car is what gets washed. An action that takes an object like this is called transitive.
ユミはケンに車を洗わせた。
Yumi made Ken wash the car.
Yumi told Ken to wash it, although he wanted to stay inside. The car keeps を, and Ken, who washes it, takes に. This is the same arrangement as the teacher, Ken and the book. If Ken had offered and Yumi had agreed, this sentence could mean “Yumi let Ken wash the car” with the same particles.
Who cleans the classroom?
The teacher tells a student to clean the classroom. 掃除する means “clean”; 教室 is the classroom being cleaned.
Choose the sentence that keeps those people in their parts.
An action without an object
Standing is different: in 学生が立つ, “the student stands,” there is no separate thing the student acts on. 立つ is intransitive. For a strongly imposed action like making a reluctant student stand, mark that person with を:
先生は学生を立たせた。
The teacher made the student stand.
The student stands; the teacher makes it happen. The same basic を pattern also works for permission. At playtime, for example:
先生は子どもを遊ばせた。
The teacher let the children play.
The children want to play and the teacher lets them. With a willing person doing an intransitive action, に is also possible: 先生は子どもに遊ばせた. So を can go with “let,” and に can go with “make,” as in the car sentence. Choose the pattern for the action and its participants; use the scene to understand permission or compulsion.
Two ways to let them play
It is playtime. The children want to play and the teacher lets them. Select both sentences that fit.
The teacher must allow the action, and the children must play.
Keep a destination separate from the person
A movement sentence may also name a place. In the next example, Ken goes and 公園に tells us where:
先生はケンを公園に行かせた。
The teacher made/let Ken go to the park.
A path is different from a destination. この道を歩く means “walk along this road”; を marks the route. When that route already takes を, give the person walking に:
先生は学生にこの道を歩かせた。
The teacher had the students walk along this road.
学生に names the walkers. この道を names their path. Looking at whether a noun is a person, a destination or a route makes the particles easier to choose.
Find the people and their route
Yumi has Ken run along this road for practice. 走る means “run” and is group 1; この道 is the route.
Which sentence keeps the people separate from the path?
Let someone use your computer
Yumi allowed Ken to use her computer. Write one plain-past causative sentence with ユミ, ケン, パソコン (computer) and 使う (use, group 1). Ken must be the person who uses it.
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Japanese passive form: tell the receiver’s side
The passive lets you talk about the person or thing receiving an action. Suppose a dog bites Yumi. We can tell the same incident from either side:
犬がユミをかんだ。
A dog bit Yumi.
ユミは犬にかまれた。
Yumi was bitten by a dog.
The dog still bites, and Yumi still receives the bite. In the active sentence, 犬が is the actor and ユミを is the target. In the passive sentence, ユミは makes Yumi the topic, 犬に names the actor, and かまれた is the past passive. The viewpoint changes; the incident stays the same.
This is a useful contrast with the causative. In ユミはケンに車を洗わせた, Ken washes because Yumi gets him to. In ユミは犬にかまれた, the dog bites and Yumi receives it. Read に together with the verb to work out the person’s part.
Build the passive from the same dictionary form
For group 1, use the a-sound changes from the causative table, but add れる instead of せる. 読む becomes 読まれる; 買う becomes 買われる. For group 2, remove る and add られる: 食べる becomes 食べられる.
| Dictionary form | Causative | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| 読む (group 1) | 読ませる | 読まれる |
| 食べる (group 2) | 食べさせる | 食べられる |
| する (irregular) | させる | される |
| 来る (irregular) | 来させる | 来られる |
来られる is read こられる. To make a passive past, change its final る to た, just as you did with the causative: かむ → かまれる → かまれた. For ほめる, “praise,” remove る and add られる, then make it past: ほめられた.
ユミは先生にほめられた。
Yumi was praised by the teacher.
Yumi receives praise here, so the passive is just as useful for a good experience. “Receiver” does not have to mean “victim.”
Retell from the receiver’s side
The teacher called Yumi over. Start with Yumi and complete the plain past passive of 呼ぶ (call, group 1).
ユミは先生に＿。
The cake was eaten—but I’m the one affected
Now imagine you saved a cake for later, but Ken ate it without asking. The cake is what gets eaten; you are the person left disappointed. Japanese lets you tell that experience with a passive too:
ケンが私のケーキを食べた。
Ken ate my cake.
私はケンにケーキを食べられた。
Ken ate my cake, and I was upset about it.
I was not eaten. The cake was. 私は names the affected person, ケンに names the eater, and ケーキを stays the thing eaten. This is often called an indirect or affected passive: the action affects me through something that matters to me.
I like this use because it explains why the story is being told from my side. It is more than news about Ken’s snack. Natural English may use an active sentence, “Ken ate my cake,” and add the effect on me; the Japanese passive carries that affected viewpoint.
Tell Yumi’s lunch story
Ken eats Yumi’s sandwich without asking. She had saved it for lunch and is upset.
Choose Yumi’s affected viewpoint.
An event itself can cause the trouble
The action need not have a direct object. 雨が降った simply reports “It rained.” If you were walking home without an umbrella, you can instead tell what happened to you:
私は雨に降られた。
I got caught in the rain.
Rain does not act on an object marked を here. The passive makes you the affected person because the rain inconvenienced you. Use this viewpoint when there is an effect to tell; use 雨が降った for the weather report on its own.
Weather or a wet walk?
You are writing a neutral weather note. You want to say “It rained,” without describing anyone getting caught in it.
Choose the straightforward event report.
When られる could mean “can”
The potential form expresses ability or possibility: “can eat,” for example. For group 2 verbs, its standard form looks exactly like the passive. So 食べられる can mean “can eat” or “be eaten.” The people and situation help us choose:
私はこのパンが食べられる。
I can eat this bread.
You have checked the ingredients and found that the bread is safe for you to eat. You are the possible eater; the bread is what you can eat. Here が marks the bread, as it often marks what you can eat in a potential sentence.
このパンは鳥に食べられた。
This bread was eaten by birds.
This time, you find that birds have eaten bread left outside. The bread receives the action and 鳥に tells us who ate it. The same verb has a passive meaning. Neither られる nor が alone can settle every sentence: a passive subject can take が too. If the people and situation are missing, ask for enough context to tell who can act or who is affected.
Who saw whom?
見る means “see” and is group 2. Yumi was hiding a present, but Ken saw her. She reports:
私はケンに見られた。
An English passive can describe a simple event
Before turning an English passive into Japanese, decide what you want to report. 開く means that something opens, while 開ける means that someone opens it:
ドアが開いた。
The door opened.
ケンがドアを開けた。
Ken opened the door.
The first sentence reports an event without naming a cause. The second tells us what Ken did. Either may convey what an English speaker reports as “the door was opened,” depending on what the scene is about.
ドアはケンに開けられた。
The door was opened by Ken.
The passive can fit when you are discussing the door and identifying who opened it. It gives the door the leading place in the sentence. Choose that viewpoint when it helps your story, rather than because English uses “was opened.”
Report an opening door
You see a door open. You do not know who or what caused it, and you simply want to report the opening.
Which sentence says what you know?
We have kept the people named so their parts stay clear. Japanese can leave them out once the conversation makes them understood—for example, when everyone already knows whose cake was eaten. The listener still needs to be able to follow the same incident.
One follow-up: being made to act
There is a separate construction for “I was made to do it”: the causative-passive. Build the causative first. The new causative follows the group 2 passive rule, whatever the original verb’s group: replace its final る with られる. For 食べる, the steps are 食べる → 食べさせる → 食べさせられる.
私は母に野菜を食べさせられた。
I was made to eat vegetables by my mother.
I eat; my mother makes me do it. The sentence tells that imposed action from my side and often suggests I did not want to do it. Compare the simple passive 私はケンにケーキを食べられた: there, Ken eats and I lose my cake. In the combined form, I am both the person who has to act and the person whose experience we hear.
Who has to eat?
The speaker does not want vegetables, but her mother insists. Read the combined form in this scene.
私は母に野菜を食べさせられた。
Give someone else a turn to tell the story
Here is a new incident: Ken broke Yumi’s cup. We know what Ken did. Now let Yumi tell why it matters to her.
Retell the broken-cup incident
Write one plain-past passive sentence from Yumi’s affected viewpoint. Use ユミ, ケン, コップ (cup) and 壊す (break something, group 1). The cup should remain the thing broken. Then explain the particle you chose for Ken.
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About the author
B. Rungswell
B. Rungswell is the editor of the Bunpo Check blog and a native English speaker who has passed JLPT N1. Drawing on many years of life in Japan and experience working at Japanese companies, Rungswell writes practical guides to Japanese grammar for English-speaking learners.