Causative verbs

Causative verbs are used to cause or influence people to do things. In English, these are verbs like "make," "let," "have," and "get," as in "get Billy to eat dinner." The "get" is the causative verb.

The most common causative verbs in Chinese are:

Contents

Structure

Make sure to take note of the different meanings and levels of formality. For example, 使 (shǐ) and 让 (ràng), when used as causative verbs, basically mean the same thing (to make), but 使 (shǐ) is used in more formal or written Chinese, while 让 (ràng) is used more in spoken Chinese.

The predicate part of the pattern can be a verb or an adjective.

"Make" vs. "Let"

It's worth noting that 让 is the most common causative verb in spoken Mandarin and is often translated into English as either "make" or "let." It may seem strange to speakers of English that these two very different words are the same word in Chinese. "Make" is kind of like forcing, and "let" is kind of like allowing, right? But in Chinese, the understood concept generally makes clear how willing the object of the causative verb is. It's just something that takes time to get used to.

Examples

See also

Sources and further reading

Videos

Books