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No one likes to wait, so I thought "待{ま}つ" would be a great verb to use to practice the indirect passive (suffering passive) of an intransitive verb. However, I'm having trouble probably because "待つ" can also be transitive.

I used this sentence as a model:

夫に死なれた女性は未亡人と呼ばれる。
"A woman with a deceased husband is called a widow."

I tried to use "待つ" as I would use "死ぬ", but it doesn't seem to work because the person who is waiting is also doing the suffering. The model has the "夫" dying and then another person, "女性", suffering.

I talked with a native speaker. She said the problem is that "待つ" can both be transitive and intransitive, and that fact is critical for suffering passive. I'm not convinced. I think the problem is that the person who waits also suffers. But, I'm not sure how to untie that and create suffering passive with 待つ used as intransitive.

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  • You want to say something like 雨の中で待たされていた?
    – Yang Muye
    Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 13:21
  • @YangMuye No. "待たす" is 他動詞, and "待たされる" is just standard 受け身形。Rather, I want to create "indirect passive" using a 自動詞 verb. "死ぬ" is one such verb. "待つ" is another such verb.
    – david.t
    Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 13:48
  • And why 待たれる does not fit here?
    – macraf
    Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 14:10

1 Answer 1

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How about this sentence?

魚を焼いたら猫がやったきた。油断するのを猫に待たれている私は気が気でない。

私の油断を私は猫に待たれている。 In this sentence, the cat is waiting for my carelessness, and I am suffering from it. This is transitive, but the object is not a person.

People usually suffers from waiting, not making others wait. And, that is why it is hard to use 待つ as the indirect passive verb.

I googled and found a few other examples.

何者かに待たれているゴドーは今日も自問自答を繰り返す・・・ http://www.moon-light.ne.jp/scenario/playbook/godot.htm

Someone is waiting. I think this one is intransitive.

知識や学問から待たれているもの http://www.isuramu.com/lifestyle/livingislam1.htm

Knowledge and scholarship waits for something.

The last one is a little bit different.

退職して年金の請求を待たれている方

This one is not suffering passive but respecting.

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