せる/させる for 'make someone do' and 'let someone do', させてください for asking permission, and the causative-passive for 'was made to'.
About 5 minutes to read
The causative is the form for making or letting someone do something.
How to make it
Type
How
Example
ru-verb
drop る, add させる
食べる → 食べさせる
u-verb
change to the あ-row + せる
書く → 書かせる、飲む → 飲ませる、買う → 買わせる
する
させる
来る
来させる (こさせる)
The causative is a ru-verb: 食べさせた, 食べさせない.
Make: forcing or ordering
先生teacherは生徒studentに宿題homeworkをさせたmade do
The teacher made the students do homework.
The person made to do it takes に (or を for verbs that have no object):
母motherは弟younger brotherを買い物shoppingに行かせたmade go
Mother sent my brother to go shopping.
The rule: if the verb already has a を object, the person takes に. If the verb has no object, the person can take を (to be forced) or に (to be allowed).
Let: giving permission
The same form can mean "allow" or "let".
親parentsは子供childに好きなlikedことをさせたlet do
The parents let their child do what he likes.
Which one it is, "make" or "let", depends on context: a harsh teacher "makes", a kind parent "lets".
させてください: let me
Causative te-form + ください means "please let me", the most useful causative.
私meにやらせてlet doください
Please let me do it.
少しa little考えさせてlet me thinkください
Please let me think about it for a moment.
ちょっと使わせてlet me useもらえますか
Could I borrow it for a moment?
In these, you are asking for permission. Because the causative gives them the power to say yes or no, it sounds humble.
Causative-passive: was made to
Combine causative and passive and you get "was made to do" (a forced action, usually unwelcome).
Type
How
Example
ru-verb
させ + られる
食べさせられる
u-verb
あ-row + せられる (or short form される)
書かされる、飲まされる、行かされる
する
させられる
子供childのとき野菜vegetablesを食べさせられたwas made to eat
When I was a child, I was made to eat vegetables.
上司bossに残業overtimeをさせられたwas made to do
I was made to work overtime by my boss.
You can imagine the speaker grumbling. That's why this form is common in complaints and in stories about authority.
Longer sentences
Causatives and causative-passives appear in family and work stories.
子供のchild'sころtime母はmother私にme毎日every dayピアノをpiano練習させたmade practise嫌でhating it and泣いてもeven if I cried許してforgivingもらえずnot receiving夜遅くまでuntil late at night弾かされたwas made to play
When I was a child, my mother made me practise the piano every day. I hated it, and even when I cried she wouldn't let me off, and I was made to play until late at night.
今度のthis time's旅行ではon the trip子供たちにthe children自分でby themselves荷物をluggage準備させてhave them prepareみようとtry to思うthink
For this trip, I'm thinking of letting the children pack their own luggage.
A workplace story
新入社員のnew employee's頃time、私はI先輩にby my senior毎日every day夜遅くまでuntil late at night資料をmaterials作らされwas made to produce and最初はat first辞めたいとwanted to quit (quote)思ったほどだto the point of thinking
しかしbut課長がsection chief「失敗しても"even if you fail構わないからit doesn't matter, so自分でby yourself考えてthinkingやらせてみよう」とlet's try letting you do" (quote)言ってsaying仕事をwork任せてくれたentrusted to meおかげでthanks to this少しずつlittle by little自信がconfidenceついたdeveloped
When I was a new employee, I was made to produce materials by my senior until late every night, to the point that I thought of quitting at first.
But the section chief said, "It doesn't matter if you fail; think for yourself and let's try letting you do it," and entrusted the work to me, thanks to which my confidence grew little by little.