What is the difference between these two examples?
- 子供に本を読ませる
- 子供を本を読ませる
Please give me some other example to illustrate the difference.
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6First thing is that you can't have two を like that in the same clause (saves for special cases japanese.stackexchange.com/a/16289/4216).– 永劫回帰Commented Apr 12, 2016 at 13:11
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1In other words, you can't have two arguments with を for the same predicate.– broccoli forestCommented Apr 13, 2016 at 4:06
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1 Answer
子供を本を読ませる is ungrammatical, and you have to say 子供に本を読ませる.
Here are the basic rules for causation:
- For verbs which take を, the agent (or "causee") is marked with に. Such verbs are usually transitive verbs, but some intransitive verbs take を, too.
- For verbs which don't take を (i.e., most intransitive verbs), the agent is marked with を.
In your question, 読む is a fairly simple transitive verb which takes an object marked with を. So the agent (子供) must be marked with に.
Other examples:
- 子供を眠らせた。 I made the kid sleep.
(眠る is a simple intransitive verb which never takes an object) - 子供に歯を磨かせた。 I made the kid brush his teeth.
(磨く is a simple transitive verb) - 子供に磨かせた。 I made the kid brush (it).
(The object is omitted, but still the agent is marked with に because 磨く is transitive. 子供を磨かせた would mean "I made (someone) brush the kid") - 子供を家に帰らせた。 I made the kid return home.
(帰る is an intransitive verb which takes に, but never takes an object marked with を) - 子供に道路を渡らせた。 I made the kid cross the road.
(渡る is an intransitive verb which does take を)
And you can find some edge cases in this question.
