English Translation
She forced him to do it.
彼は彼女にそれをさせられた。= He was forced to do it by her.
彼女は彼にそれをさせた。or 彼女は彼に無理強い（むりじい）した。= She forced him to do it.
彼は彼女にそれをさせられた。sounds unnatural to my native ears.
English Translation
She forced him to do it.
Hi! Shouldn’t the translation be, “He made her do it.” Does it still sound weird with that translation.
And, does it sound normal to say 彼女は彼にそれをさせた for “She made him do it.”
It seemed to me that the translation was wrong to start with…
@sjfree
First off, 彼は彼女にそれをさせられた is a bad collocation. If you replace させられた with やらされた, it would sound more natural. If I were you, however, I would just push the “ignore” button. Anyway, let me explain the grammatical structure.
彼は彼女にそれをさせられた can NOT be translated as “He MADE her do it”, but it should be “He WAS MADE to do it BY her”. She ordered something, and he executed it.
- 彼は = the subject is HE.
- させられた = する (do) + られ (passive) + た (past tense) = was forced/made/let to do.
させられた is a highly contextual expression. You cannot judge whether he did it willingly or not. That’s why させられた can be either “be forced/made/let”.
無理強い（むりじい）する, on the other hand, precisely means “force someone to do”. 無理 is “impossible” or “unwilling” (thing), and 強いる（しいる) means “to use one’s strong power/authority”. Therefore, the best translation for “She forced him to do it” would be 彼女は彼に無理強い（むりじい）した。-- My alternative translation sounds very natural. You can also insert それを between 彼に and 無理強い, but omitting それを sounds more natural.
Thank you! I have somehow just discovered these replies so I will try to keep a bit more up to date in the future…
1 Like