Made your daughter cry with 泣かせた
Grammar Explanation: Making and letting with 〜せる・〜させる
Saeko is invited to a Christmas party by the boy she likes, but her father forbids her from going.
- ママ:
- 「パパー！？ またサエコ泣かせたの！？」
- “Dad!? Did you make Saeko cry again!?”
- パパ:
- 「泣きたいのはこっちだ」
- “I'm the one who feels like crying.”
Key Points
1泣かせた means made someone cry
- 泣く becomes the causative 泣かせる, then the past form 泣かせた.
- Here the causative describes causing an emotional reaction. It does not suggest that Dad ordered her to cry.
2サエコ has an omitted を
- The fuller phrase is サエコを泣かせた. Saeko is the person who cries, and Dad is the person Mom holds responsible.
- また means “again”, so Mom treats this as something Dad has done before.
3The final の asks Dad to explain
- 泣かせたの！？ is a casual explanatory question. Mom is asking Dad to account for Saeko’s tears, with surprise and accusation in her tone.
4泣きたいのはこっちだ puts the focus on Dad
- 泣きたい combines the verb stem 泣き with たい. Here it means “feel like crying”.
- The の in 泣きたいのは turns the phrase into a noun phrase, “the one who feels like crying”, which allows は to set it as the topic. This の has a different role from Mom’s sentence-ending の.
- こっち literally refers to “this side”, but Dad uses it for himself. He insists that he is the one who feels like crying.
Vocabulary
パパ (Dad)
パパ is a word children use for their father, like “daddy”.
また (Again)
また means “again” or “once more”. It also means “also”. As a goodbye, またね means “see you”.
泣かせる (To make cry)
泣かせる is to make someone cry. It also describes something touching.
泣く (To cry)
泣く is to cry or weep.
こっち (Over here)
こっち is a casual word for “this way”, “here”, or “this one”. It can also mean “our side” or “me”.
See Also
- Grammar: Making and letting with 〜せる・〜させる
- Grammar: Wanting to do with 〜たい
- Grammar: Reasoning with 〜のだ
- Grammar: The copula だ
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