Japanese with Manga

Made to quit smoking with 〜させられる

Grammar Explanation: Being made to do with 〜させられる

Nobuharu, a young actor in a suit, turns to speak. Behind him stands his father, Akatsuki, an older man with a mustache and a bow tie, holding a hand to his chest.
名探偵コナン » Volume 37 » Page 50

Four actors filming a mystery drama at a mansion are suspects in a real murder. While they wait with Kogoro, he lights a cigarette, and the actress Ruri says her father’s dislike of smoking rubbed off on her. Nobuharu, who acts alongside his father, Akatsuki, says it’s the same in his family.

伸晴(のぶはる):
「まあ　僕(ぼく)の家(いえ)の場合(ばあい)は母(はは)がタバコ嫌(ぎら)いで…」
“Well, in my family's case, it's my mother who hates cigarettes...”
「ヘビースモーカーだったあの父(ちち)も僕(ぼく)が生(う)まれると同時(どうじ)に止(や)めさせられたって言(い)ってました……」
“Even my dad there, who used to be a heavy smoker, told me she made him quit the moment I was born...”
Literal: “Even that father, who was a heavy smoker, said he was made to quit at the same time I was born...”

Key Points

1止(や)めさせられた, “was made to quit”
  • 止(や)める is an ichidan verb, so it takes させられる: 止(や)めさせる, “make someone quit”, becomes 止(や)めさせられる, “be made to quit”.
  • The subject is あの父(ちち). The person who made him quit isn’t marked with に here, but the first line already named her. It was the mother who hates cigarettes.
  • The heavy smoker didn’t want to stop, which is just the reluctance させられる carries.
2って言(い)ってました, “he told me”
  • って quotes what the father said. 言(い)ってました is the polite past of 言(い)っている, so Nobuharu is passing along something his father has told him, maybe more than once.
3と同時(どうじ)に, “at the same moment as”
  • 僕(ぼく)が生(う)まれると同時(どうじ)に is “at the same time as I was born”. The dictionary form 生(う)まれる comes before と同時(どうじ)に, even though the birth was in the past.
4あの父(ちち), “my dad there”
  • あの points to someone both speakers can see. Nobuharu’s father is standing right behind him, so あの父(ちち) is “my dad there” or “even that dad of mine”.
  • も makes it “even”: even a heavy smoker like him had to quit.

Vocabulary

(Well)

まあ is a soft “well” that eases into what the speaker says, or accepts something half-heartedly. It also shows mild surprise, like “oh my”.

(I)

僕(ぼく) means “I” or “me”. Boys and men commonly use it in casual speech, and it sounds softer than 俺(おれ).

(House)

家(いえ) is a building where people live.

(Case)

場合(ばあい) means a case, situation, or set of circumstances. It often follows a condition to mean “if” or “in the case of”.

(Mother)

母(はは) is one’s own mother, the word used when speaking of her to others.

(Cigarettes)

タバコ is tobacco or cigarettes. It is also written 煙草(たばこ).

(Disliked)

嫌(きら)い describes something a person dislikes or hates. After a noun, as in タバコ嫌(ぎら)い, it is read ぎらい and describes someone who can’t stand that thing.

(Heavy smoker)

ヘビースモーカー, from English “heavy smoker”, is someone who smokes a lot.

(That)

あの comes before a noun to mean “that” or “those”. It points to someone or something away from both speakers, or something they both know about.

(Father)

父(ちち) is one’s own father, the word used when speaking of him to others.

(To be born)

生(う)まれる is to be born. It can also mean for something new to come into being.

(To stop)

止(と)める is to stop something moving or happening. Read やめる, it means to quit doing something.

(To make someone do)

させる is the causative form of する. It means to make someone do something or to let them do it.

(To say)

言(い)う means to say or tell. It can also mean to call something by a particular name.

See Also

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