水は熱せられると蒸気になる。

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1
English Translation

Water changes into vapor when it is heated.

Just to confirm, the verb 熱せられら is in causative passive form, right?

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#2

If so, why isn’t it conjugated normally, i.e. 熱させられる？（that is, the さ is missing）

I know there exists an abbreviated form of the causative-passive for verbs that do not end in する; i. e. for 行く, there is 行かされる, which is the passive conjugation for いかす, the shortened form of いかせる。(There is of course also the standard conjugation, 行かせられる。) But in the above sentence, the conjugation of 熱せられる is a bit different from the abbreviated form, which should be 熱さされる – not to mention, since 熱する ends in する, one should not even use this contraction in the first place.

#3

@ericaw
Sorry I mistapped the “like” button and it cannot be canceled.

I’m afraid you might mix up the concepts of 受動態 (passive form) and 使役動詞 (causative verb).

  • (Active form) Tom heated water. = トムは水を熱した。

  • (Passive form) Water was heated by Tom. = 水はトムによって熱せられた。

  • (Causative form) Mary forced/made Tom heat water. = メアリーはトムに水を熱せさせた。

  • (Causative & Passive form) Water was forced to be heated by Tom under Mary’s order. = メアリーの命令で水はトムによって熱させられた。— Both in English and Japanese sound unnatural.

There is no word like 熱さされる. This is grammatically broken.

Causative verbs in Japanese can be translated into either “X forces Y to do”, “X makes Y do” or “X lets Y do”. Causative verbs always have the connotation of “willingness”. “To force” suggests that X ordered Y against Y’s willingness. “To make” implies that X is in a superior position over Y to fulfill X’s willingness. “To let” means Y has a willingness and X as a supervisor allows Y to do so.

There is no such a causative connotation in the original sentence pair. Heated water turning into vapor is just a natural phenomenon with no willingness.

ETA: The original Japanese sentence is somehow natural, but I definitely prefer its active form:

水を熱すると蒸気になる。

熱せられる in a passive form sometimes has the nuance of “victimization” in Japanese. Water cannot have such a sense.

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#4

Thank you for the detailed explanation, MsFixer! Looking more carefully again, I see the verb is in the potential + passive form (熱せられる) rather than simply the passive form (熱される). Do you know why potential form 熱せる is used here?

#5

@ericaw
Please read my “edited to add” (ETA). The original Japanese sentence is somehow natural. In other words, I do not support it.