Japanese verbs ending in -saseru (-ÒÕŽªj can be translated into English as either let+OBJECT+VERB or make+OBJECT+VERB; for example, benkyou saseru ªið×ÑÐÒÕŽªj can be translated as either 'make someone study' or 'let someone study'. However let and make have distinct meanings. The two sentences below, for example, have different meanings.- My parents let me study abroad.
- My parents made me study abroad.
In the first sentence, the writer wanted to study abroad and was glad that her parents allowed her to go; in the second, the writer did not want to study abroad, but her parents forced her to go.
In other words, let indicates that a person is being allowed to do something he wants to do or that a thing is being allowed to follow its natural course without any interference. Make indicates that someone or something is being forced or coerced into a particular course of action. The following examples provide some images that you can use to help you decide whetehr to use let or make.
- You let a helium balloon fly up into the sky or let a baseball fall to the ground, but you make a baseball fly through the air by hitting or throwing it.
If there is nothing holding the balloon back, it will naturally rise, and if no one holds the baseball up, it will naturally fall to the ground. However, a baseball never flies through the air on its own; someone has to apply a force to it to send it into the air.
- Parents let their children play video games but make them study, and parents let their children eat candy but make them eat spinach.
This assumes, of course, that children like to play video games but they don't like to study, and that they like candy but not spinach. If a child likes to study and wants to do it, it would not be correct to say that the child's parents are making him study.