Chapter 8: 可能・使役・依頼 | Speak and Write Japanese Volume III

Chapter Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Form and use the potential form of verbs with confidence, distinguishing it clearly from the passive form introduced in Chapter 7.
Form and use the causative form of verbs to describe making or letting someone do something.
Use 〜させてください to request permission to do something yourself, distinguishing this pattern from ordinary requests that ask someone else to act.
Distinguish causative sentences that express compulsion from those that express permission, based on context and verb choice.
Talk about skills, rules, permissions, and workplace tasks using potential and causative forms appropriately.
Read and listen to short texts about rules, permissions, and workplace procedures, identifying potential and causative forms and their meaning.
Write and narrate a short account of a skill, a rule, or a permission request using potential and causative forms accurately.

Communication Scenario

Emma has started a short-term volunteer position at the same community center where her discussion group meets. On her first day, the coordinator explains what volunteers are allowed to do, what they are not allowed to do without asking, and what new skills the position will let her practice. Emma also wants to ask her supervisor for permission to leave twenty minutes early one day to attend a language exchange event, and she wants to explain to Yuki afterward what she can now do at the center and what she asked permission to do. This chapter's Practical Performance Task asks you to describe your own abilities and a set of rules or permissions in a familiar setting, then request permission to do something yourself, using potential, causative, and 〜させてください forms.

The speaker or writer uses the potential form to describe what someone is or is not able to do.
The speaker or writer uses the causative form to describe making or letting someone do something.
The speaker uses 〜させてください to request permission to do something themselves, rather than asking someone else to act.

ごい — Core Vocabulary

Core Vocabulary

This chapter's vocabulary supports skills, permissions, rules, workplace tasks, service requests, and agency. All items below are productive for this chapter and recycle in Chapters 9 and 10.

Function	Japanese	Reading	English meaning
Ability / skill	能力	のうりょく	ability; capability
Ability / skill	練習	れんしゅう	practice
Permission / rule	許可	きょか	permission
Permission / rule	規則	きそく	rule; regulation
Instruction / cause	指導	しどう	guidance; instruction
Instruction / cause	原因	げんいん	cause
Responsibility / task	担当	たんとう	being in charge (of a task)
Responsibility / task	責任	せきにん	responsibility
Service request	申請	しんせい	application; formal request
Service request	確認	かくにん	confirmation

These items combine with the potential, causative, and 〜させてください patterns introduced in this chapter's Grammar section, especially 許可 and 規則, which frequently appear alongside causative sentences about rules.

れんしゅう — Practice: Choose four words from the table and write one plain-style sentence with each, describing a skill, a rule, or a workplace responsibility.

もじ — Script and Kanji Focus

Script and Kanji Focus

This chapter introduces kanji for ability, permission, cause, instruction, practice, and responsibility, consistent with the Kanji Recognition and Kanji Production Matrices for this volume. Furigana is provided for these new kanji on first appearance in this chapter and reduced in later readings once the chapter has established them; furigana remains available for names and any unscheduled readings.

能力

のうりょく

ability

New — Ch. 8

許可

きょか

permission

New — Ch. 8

規則

きそく

rule

New — Ch. 8

責任

せきにん

responsibility

New — Ch. 8

Script Strategy — Recognizing 可 as a productive component

The character 可, meaning roughly "permissible" or "possible," appears in several words active in this chapter and beyond: 許可 (permission) and 可能 (possibility, related to this chapter's potential forms), and later in the volume in other compounds involving permission or possibility. Recognizing 可 as a recurring component can help you predict that a compound relates to permission or possibility, but the exact reading and precise meaning of each word must still be checked individually.

In this chapter's readings, only names, unfamiliar loanwords, and this chapter's new kanji on first appearance receive furigana.

れんしゅう — Practice: Write the readings for 能力, 許可, 規則, 責任, 指導, and 担当. Then find one other word you already know that also contains 可, and write its reading and meaning.

Pronunciation Focus

Pronunciation Focus — Long causative and potential endings

Potential and causative forms in this chapter often produce longer verb endings than the plain dictionary forms learners have used so far. Keeping every mora distinct, without rushing or dropping vowels, becomes especially important with these longer forms.

話せる (はなせる): three distinct morae in the ending; do not shorten to はなせ.
やらせてください: the small っ after さ in させて must be held for its own timing unit, and the long final い of ください must not be shortened.
出かけさせられました: a longer causative-passive-style sequence built from 出かける; practice this word slowly, mora by mora, before speeding up to natural pace.

Practice reading the Model Dialogue aloud, paying particular attention to keeping each mora in these longer endings distinct, even when speaking at a natural conversational pace.

Grammar and Sentence Patterns: Ability, Causation, and Requests

This chapter consolidates the potential form, introduces the causative form, and teaches 〜させてください as a way to request permission to act. All three systems describe a relationship between a person and an action — being able to do it, making or letting someone do it, or asking to be allowed to do it — and together they let you talk about skills, rules, and permissions with more precision than the plain and polite forms alone allow.

Consolidating the potential form

Purpose: to state clearly what someone is or is not able to do, distinguishing potential meaning from the passive meaning covered in Chapter 7.

話す → 話せるto speak → to be able to speakGroup 1 (u-verb): change final -u to -e, add -る
食べる → 食べられるto eat → to be able to eatGroup 2 (ru-verb): drop -る, add -られる (identical in form to the passive; distinguished by context)
する → できるto do → to be able to doirregular; suppletive form, not built with -られる
来る → 来られるto come → to be able to comeirregular; identical in form to the passive 来られる, distinguished by context

For Group 2 verbs and 来る, the potential form and the passive form introduced in Chapter 7 look identical. Context, the surrounding particles, and the presence of an agent phrase (which signals passive, not potential) help distinguish the two: 田中さんに来られて困りました ("I was troubled by Tanaka coming," passive) versus 田中さんは来られます ("Tanaka is able to come," potential).

Introducing the causative form

Purpose: to describe making or letting someone do something, distinguishing compulsion from permission by context and verb choice.

書く → 書かせるto write → to make/let (someone) writeGroup 1 (u-verb): change final -u to -a, add -せる
見る → 見させるto see/look at → to make/let (someone) look atGroup 2 (ru-verb): drop -る, add -させる
する → させるto do → to make/let (someone) doirregular
来る → 来させるto come → to make/let (someone) comeirregular

Building Block — Compulsion or permission?

causative sentence → ask: is the causer requiring the action, or allowing it? → context, verb meaning, and particles (を for compulsion with intransitive verbs, に for the causee with transitive verbs) guide the interpretation

The same causative form can express "made someone do it" or "let someone do it"; the surrounding context, not the verb form itself, usually makes the intended meaning clear.

担当者は新しいボランティアに規則を確認させました。一方、担当者は私に早く帰らせてくれました。

The person in charge had the new volunteers check the rules. On the other hand, the person in charge let me go home early.

確認させました reads most naturally as compulsion (having someone do a required task), while 帰らせてくれました, with the added verb くれる, signals that the causative action was a favor or permission granted to the speaker, not an imposition.

〜させてください — requesting permission to act

Purpose: to ask permission to do something yourself, using the causative te-form plus ください, rather than asking someone else to perform an action.

今日は早く帰らせてください。Please let me go home early today.causative te-form of 帰る + ください; the speaker asks to be allowed to act
この規則について質問させてください。Please let me ask a question about this rule.causative te-form of 質問する + ください
その仕事を私にやらせてください。Please let me be the one to do that task.causative te-form of やる + ください, with に marking the person requesting the role

〜させてください differs from an ordinary request such as 手伝ってください ("please help me"), which asks someone else to act. 〜させてください instead asks for permission for the speaker to act, and is common in workplace, service, and institutional contexts when requesting to take on a task or leave a duty early.

Grammar Practice

Change 日本語を話します。 into a potential sentence describing what you are able to do.
Change 新しいボランティアが規則を確認しました。 into a causative sentence describing the supervisor having the volunteer confirm the rules.
Write one causative sentence with くれる describing a permission granted to you, rather than a requirement placed on you.
Write one request using 〜させてください to ask permission to leave early, ask a question, or take on a task.
Write a two-sentence account describing a skill you have (using the potential form) and a permission you would like to request (using 〜させてください).

Model Dialogue

Setting: Emma speaks with her volunteer supervisor, たなかさん, on her first day at the community center.

たなかエマさんは日本語の書類を読めますか。 Emma, are you able to read documents in Japanese?

エマ簡単なものなら読めます。難しい言葉は、まだ全部は分かりません。 I can read simple ones. I still don't understand all the difficult vocabulary.

たなか分かりました。じゃあ、最初は簡単な受付の仕事をさせますね。規則について何か質問はありますか。 I see. Then at first I'll have you do the simple front-desk work. Do you have any questions about the rules?

エマはい、一つ質問させてください。ボランティアは何時まで働けますか。 Yes, please let me ask one question. Until what time are volunteers able to work?

たなか普通は五時までですが、用事があれば、早く帰らせますよ。 Normally until five, but if you have something to attend to, I'll let you go home early.

エマ実は来週、言語交流のイベントがあるので、その日は少し早く帰らせてください。 Actually, there's a language exchange event next week, so please let me go home a little early that day.

ないようりかい — Comprehension questions:

What is Emma able to read, and what is she not yet able to fully understand?
What task will Tanaka have Emma do first, and what causative form does Tanaka use?
What does Emma request permission to do, and what pattern does she use to ask?

Guided Practice

タスク１ — Identify the form. Read five sentences provided by your instructor or partner and decide whether each uses a potential form, a causative form, a passive form from Chapter 7, or none of these.

タスク２ — Build potential forms. Rewrite three plain sentences as potential sentences describing what someone can or cannot do.

タスク３ — Build causative forms. Rewrite three plain sentences as causative sentences, including at least one that clearly expresses compulsion and one that clearly expresses permission (using くれる or context).

タスク４ — Requesting permission. Using 〜させてください, write three requests to do something yourself in a workplace, service, or classroom setting.

タスク５ — Plan your account. Using the Building Block pattern from the Grammar section, outline a short account describing a skill, a workplace rule, and a permission you would like to request.

Listening Practice

Ask your instructor, a partner, or a text-to-speech tool to read the following passage aloud at a clear, moderate pace.

きくタスク — A volunteer orientation announcement

このセンターでは、新しいボランティアに、まず簡単な受付の仕事をさせています。パソコンが使える方は、後で予約の管理も担当してもらいます。規則として、ボランティアは休憩時間に許可なく外に出ないでください。ただし、急な用事があれば、担当者に相談すれば、早く帰らせてもらえます。分からないことがあれば、遠慮なく質問させてもらってください。

聞くタスク — Listening task: Identify (1) what new volunteers are first made to do, (2) what additional task volunteers who can use a computer are later given, (3) the rule about leaving during break time, (4) what a volunteer can do if they have an urgent matter, and (5) one potential form and one causative form used in the announcement.

This script combines this chapter's productive potential and causative patterns with the 〜させてもらう permission-request pattern in a realistic workplace-orientation context.

Speaking Practice

コントロールされた練習 — Controlled practice: Quick transformation prompts

「日本語を話します」を可能形にしてください。
「新しい人が規則を確認しました」を、担当者がさせた、という使役文にしてください。
「質問があります」を、許可を求める「〜させてください」の文にしてください。

コミュニケーションタスク — Partner interview

With a partner, take turns describing one skill you are able to do well and one skill you are not yet able to do. Then take turns making a polite request using 〜させてください for something you would like permission to do, such as leaving early, asking a question, or taking on a task, and ask your partner at least one follow-up question.

ひとりでもできる練習 — Solo practice: A rehearsed workplace request

Prepare and record a thirty-to-sixty-second spoken account describing a real or invented job, volunteer position, or class, including at least one potential sentence about what you can do, one causative sentence about a rule or a permission, and one request using 〜させてください. Listen back and check your pronunciation of the longer potential and causative endings.

Reading Practice

Read the following short workplace notice, then answer the questions below.

お知らせ — A Notice for New Volunteers

新しいボランティアの皆様へ　このセンターでは、まず簡単な仕事から始めていただきます。パソコンの操作ができる方には、後で予約の管理も担当していただく予定です。規則として、勤務時間中は、許可なく他の部屋に入らせないことになっています。もし急な用事で早く帰る必要がある場合は、必ず担当者に相談し、許可を得てから帰ってください。担当者に相談すれば、多くの場合、早く帰らせてもらえます。分からないことがあれば、いつでも質問させてもらって構いません。

This notice combines the potential and causative patterns from this chapter's Grammar section with the polite 〜ていただく pattern from earlier volumes, in a realistic workplace-notice context.

ないようりかい — Comprehension questions:

What kind of work do new volunteers begin with?
What additional task will volunteers who can use a computer be given?
What is the rule about entering other rooms without permission?
Identify one potential form and one causative form used in the notice.

Writing Workshop

In this workshop you will draft the written portion of your Practical Performance Task: a short account describing your abilities, a set of rules or permissions, and a request to do something yourself.

Choose a real or invented setting: a job, a volunteer position, a class, or a club with rules and expectations.
Describe your abilities using at least one potential sentence about what you can or cannot do in that setting.
Describe a rule or permission using at least one causative sentence, making clear whether it expresses compulsion or permission.
Request permission to do something yourself using at least one sentence with 〜させてください.
Revise your draft using the checklist below.

チェックリスト — Editing checklist:

My account includes at least one potential sentence describing an ability.
My account includes at least one causative sentence describing a rule or a permission.
My causative sentence makes clear, through context or くれる, whether it expresses compulsion or permission.
My account includes at least one request using 〜させてください.
I did not confuse the potential and passive forms of Group 2 verbs without checking the context.
I checked this chapter's new kanji readings without relying on furigana where possible.

Culture and Communication

Culture in Context — Requesting permission in workplace and volunteer settings

In many Japanese workplaces, schools, and volunteer organizations, requesting permission with 〜させてください before taking on a task, leaving early, or asking a question is a common and expected way of showing awareness of one's role and the group's expectations. This pattern is widely used across a range of settings and does not by itself signal excessive formality or hesitation; it functions as an ordinary way of framing a request as something the speaker is asking to be allowed to do, rather than assuming it.

Regional Note — Expressing "can" across languages

Many languages distinguish ability, permission, and possibility with separate words or constructions, though the boundaries differ. English "can" covers ability, permission, and possibility fairly broadly, while Japanese separates these more explicitly across the potential form, 〜てもいい for permission, and other constructions. Comparing how your own language handles these distinctions can help clarify which meaning a given Japanese sentence is expressing.

Register Note — Causative forms are not automatically harsh

A causative sentence describing a rule or requirement, such as 規則を確認させました, is not automatically harsh or authoritarian; it simply states that someone was made to do something, which is often a neutral description of ordinary workplace or institutional procedure. Tone, added expressions such as くれる, and context determine whether a causative sentence sounds neutral, considerate, or heavy-handed, not the causative form itself.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Common Mistake — Confusing the potential and passive forms of Group 2 verbs

Error: *先生に見られる intended to mean "I am able to be seen by the teacher," when the intended meaning was actually "I am able to see," misreading a passive-shaped sentence as potential without checking the agent marker and context.

Correction: 見られる alone, without an agent phrase and in a context about ability, means "to be able to see/look at"; check for an explicit agent phrase and context before assuming a Group 2 -られる form is passive rather than potential.

Common Mistake — Using 〜させてください to ask someone else to act

Error: *これを手伝わせてください。 intended as "please help me with this," but actually meaning "please let me help with this," reversing who is expected to perform the action.

Correction: これを手伝ってください。 — use the plain request form when asking someone else to act, and reserve 〜させてください for requesting permission to act yourself.

Common Mistake — Treating every causative sentence as compulsion

Error: Reading 早く帰らせてくれました as "he forced me to go home early," missing the permission meaning signaled by くれる.

Correction: 早く帰らせてくれました means "he let me go home early (as a favor to me)"; check for くれる, context, and the nature of the action before assuming a causative sentence expresses compulsion.

Chapter Review

Section A — ごい (Vocabulary)

1. Use 能力, 許可, 規則, 責任, and 担当 each in one original sentence about a skill, a rule, or a workplace task.

Section B — もじ (Script)

1. Write the readings for all four new kanji words in the Script and Kanji Focus section from memory, then check them against that section.

Section C — ぶんぽう (Grammar)

1. Complete the five Grammar Practice items above, if you have not already done so.

2. Explain, in your own words, the difference between the potential form and the passive form of a Group 2 verb, and give one original example of each, in context, that makes the meaning clear.

Section D — どっかいりかい (Reading comprehension)

1. Look again at the notice in the Reading Practice section. Write two sentences summarizing the rule about entering other rooms and the process for leaving early, using at least one causative form of your own.

Section E — かくこと (Writing)

1. Complete your account of your abilities, rules, and a permission request, following the Writing Workshop steps, as part of the Practical Performance Task below.

Section F — はなすこと (Speaking)

1. Present your rehearsed workplace request and complete the partner interview task, as part of the Practical Performance Task below.

Practical Performance Task

パフォーマンスタスク

可能・使役・依頼 — Describing abilities, rules, and requesting permission

Prepare an account of a job, volunteer position, class, or club described in the Communication Scenario, or one of your own choosing. Complete all four components below.

Written account: Write a short account of at least five sentences that includes at least one potential sentence describing an ability, at least one causative sentence describing a rule or a permission, and at least one request using 〜させてください.
Spoken report: With a partner, instructor, or recording, perform a thirty-to-sixty-second spoken account of the same setting, using potential, causative, and 〜させてください forms.
Partner interview: With a partner or instructor, ask and answer at least two questions about each other's abilities and rules, including at least one question that requires a potential-form or causative-form answer.
Peer or self-audit: Exchange your written account with a partner, or review your own after a break, and check specifically for correct distinction between potential and passive forms, correct causative meaning (compulsion versus permission), and clear pronunciation of longer verb endings.

Assessment focus: accurate use of this chapter's vocabulary and kanji; correct formation and distinction of potential and causative forms; appropriate use of 〜させてください for permission requests; deliberate distinction between compulsion and permission in causative sentences; and comprehensible, accurate pronunciation.

Answer Key

Core Vocabulary and Script Review

Open-ended; check readings and sentences against the Core Vocabulary table and the Script and Kanji Focus section above.

Grammar Practice

Model answer: 日本語を話せます。
Model answer: 担当者は新しいボランティアに規則を確認させました。
Model answer: 担当者は私に早く帰らせてくれました。
Model answer: 今日は早く帰らせてください。
Open-ended; models should include one potential sentence describing an ability and one 〜させてください request, as in the Building Block pattern and grammar examples above.

Model Dialogue — Comprehension

Emma is able to read simple documents; she does not yet fully understand difficult vocabulary.
Tanaka will first have Emma do simple front-desk work, using the causative form させます (させますね).
Emma requests permission to go home a little early the following week for a language exchange event, using 〜させてください (早く帰らせてください).

Listening Practice — Model summary

New volunteers are first made to do simple front-desk work. Volunteers who can use a computer are later also given responsibility for managing reservations. As a rule, volunteers should not go outside during break time without permission. However, if there is an urgent matter, consulting with the person in charge can allow a volunteer to go home early. Volunteers may also ask questions freely if anything is unclear.

Reading Practice — Comprehension

New volunteers begin with simple work.
Volunteers who can use a computer will also be given responsibility for managing reservations.
Volunteers are not allowed to enter other rooms without permission during working hours.
A potential form is 操作ができる; a causative form is 入らせないことになっています.

Chapter Review — Sections A and B

Open-ended; check against the Core Vocabulary and Script and Kanji Focus sections above.

Chapter Review — Section C

Open-ended for item 1; see Grammar Practice guidance above. For item 2, a correct explanation notes that the potential form and the passive form of a Group 2 verb are identical in shape, but the potential form describes ability and typically appears without an agent phrase, while the passive form describes an event happening to someone and often appears with an agent marked by に.

Chapter Review — Section D

Model answer: 規則として、勤務時間中は許可なく他の部屋に入らせないことになっている。担当者に相談すれば、早く帰らせてもらえる。 (Other accurate answers accepted.)

Chapter Review — Sections E and F, and Practical Performance Task

These are open-ended production tasks. Evaluate the written account against the Writing Workshop checklist above, and evaluate the spoken report, partner interview, and peer or self-audit against the assessment focus listed under the Practical Performance Task.

Looking Ahead

いまできること — What you can do now

You can describe abilities with the potential form, describe compulsion and permission with the causative form, and request permission to act yourself with 〜させてください, in addition to the direct and indirect passive forms from Chapter 7. This continues Unit II, 視点と条件, and gives you a fuller set of viewpoint and agency tools that will combine with the conditional forms introduced in the next chapter.

第九章へContinuing to Chapter 9

Chapter 9, 条件を使い分ける (Choosing Conditionals), continues Unit II by contrasting と, ば, たら, and なら and introducing counterfactual and hypothetical reasoning for describing instructions, advice, plans, warnings, and preferences.