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Section 2-1: Inflecting example 待たされていました contradicts the causative formula

In the book causative defined as 五段未然形+せる/一段未然形+させる.

待つ is a 五段 verb, so its causative form should be 待たせる, and 連用形 of this should be 待たせ, therefore the verb should be 待たせていました.

Am I missing something here?

Can someone evaluate the explanation of this verb form. Is it correct or not?

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  • Can someone evaluate the explanation of this verb form. Is it correct or not? I skimmed over the text and to my poor knowledge it seems correct. However instead of making others read your text of choice it will be more beneficial to you to check other texts yourself - this way you will both be able to gain confidence in the text and perhaps find new useful perspectives on the material in question.
    – kroki
    Feb 14 '17 at 7:38
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待たせた = Made (someone) wait.
待たされた = (someone)Was made to wait.

When the verb becomes causative,
待つ -> 待たす

When the verb changes to passive mode,
待つ -> 待たれる

When a verb becomes causative and then make it passive,
待つ -> 待たす -> 待たされる

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  • Could you provide a reference to the causative formula (未然形+す). I was not aware of it at all, and would like to learn more about it.
    – user1602
    Feb 12 '17 at 6:19
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    @user1602 it is the Shortened Causative Form, it is not very used, I just used it for simplicity and because the example you gave seems to be the Shortened causative-passive form. You can take a look at guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/causepass Best website for learning grammar I even found.
    – stack reader
    Feb 12 '17 at 6:27
  • 「[持]{も}つ」？「[待]{ま}つ」？なんか混じってるみたい・・
    – Chocolate ♦
    Feb 12 '17 at 6:29
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    "Progressive" was not even mentioned once...
    – user4032
    Feb 12 '17 at 8:24
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    @user1602: It's worth noting that the 未然形 + す form is in fact the older form of the causative. This final す underwent a conjugational shift, resulting in the modern せる ending.
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    May 1 '21 at 0:22
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The other answer has it all, but here's a step-by-step inference produced by GeekJDict:

geekjdict>> g 待たされていました
 待たされていました is the past form of 待たされています
  待たされています is the polite form of 待たされている
   待たされている is the continuous form of 待たされて
    待たされて is the て-form of 待たされた
     待たされた is the past form of 待たされる
      待たされる is the passive form of 待たす
       see plain 待たす t: v5s
       待たす is the colloquial form of 待たせる
        see causative 待たせる t: v1
        待たせる is the causative form of 待つ
         see plain 待つ t: v5t

So 待たす is the colloquial form of 待たせる. As other comment said, guidetojapanese.org is the best resource on Japanese grammar (and GeekJDict's grammar inference is based on it).

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  • なにこれすごい...... +1
    – broccoli facemask
    Feb 12 '17 at 12:10
  • ^ bro, でも 待たされている is the continuous form of 待たされて 待たされて is the て-form of 待たされた 待たされた is the past form of 待たされる ってどうなん？「待たされている is the continuous form of またされる」で良くね？ せめて 待たされて is the て-form of 待たされた 待たされた is the past form of 待たされる は「待たされて is the て-form of 待たされる」でええやん。なんで過去形入ってくんの
    – Chocolate ♦
    Feb 12 '17 at 23:37
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    I was under the impression that て-form is　連用形 of つ and is not a form of た as geekjdict suggests.
    – user1602
    Feb 13 '17 at 3:50
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    The grammar.rule file is composed by a human - not machine, and can be modified to reflect the language reality and not rely on recursion for た
    – user1602
    Feb 13 '17 at 19:06
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    Does @kroki have any evidence to his statement on how brains uses patterns to produce speech? :) The point is that て has nothing to do with た. You could have chosen to use て to explain た contraction. But this is not the place to discuss this, and probably not the place to promote software
    – user1602
    Feb 14 '17 at 1:45
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Because words such as 待たせられる mataserareru are considered to be difficult to pronounce, frequently in colloquial speech, the middle part of the causative passive would contract. That is, 待たせられる mataserareru (I was made to wait), would become 待たされる matasareru. Another example such as "(I) was made to buy (something)" would formally be 買わせられた kawaserareta from the verb 買う kau, but colloquially, it is frequently contracted to 買わされた kawasareta. This abbreviation is not used for ichidan verbs, nor for the irregular する suru and くる kuru.

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