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I have some trouble with my Japanese studies. I am stuck on some causative passive meanings.

So far, if I am right, there are 3 causative-passive forms:

られる: X is being ... by Y

させられる: Y forces X to .../ X is forced by Y to...

させる: X makes Y to .../ X allows Y to ...

However, I am not able to understand the される.

For example:

その話しはもうちょっと考えさせて: Let me think about the story

その話しはもうちょっと考えられ : I can think of that story a little more

英語は世界中で話されています: English is spoken all over the world

英語は世界中で話られています: English is spoken all over the world

I can't seem to associate される to any of them. I can understand that される is somehow related to the subject, but in what sense? How does it differ from られる?

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If I understand correctly, your problem is with the されて in

英語は世界中で話されています

But this さ just comes from the す part of 話す. To make the passive form for group 1 verbs you take the stem for negative verbs and add れる. So for example the negative of 話す is 話ない, the stem is 話さ, and then we add れる to give 話される.

For group 2 verbs you take the masu-stem and add られる which is the form you talked about above.

Finally, your last sentence:

英語は世界中で話(?)られています

is ungrammatical because you have missed the す part (or a modification of it) from 話す.

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  • The pedant in me also feels the need to point out that there is one passive form, one causitive from and one causitive-passive form, rather than three causitive passive forms. Commented Nov 16, 2019 at 16:18
  • Like, thanks, seriously, for the past hours I just could see what the さ was there for. Dud Thanks a lot. And thanks for the correction too. Commented Nov 16, 2019 at 16:27

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