The Causative-Passive Form

What is the Causative-Passive Form

In Japanese, the Causative-Passive Form () is used to express that someone is forced or compelled to do something against their will.

It is a combination of two separate verb conjugations:

The Making and Letting with the Causative Form (making someone do something)
The Expressing Actions with the Passive Form (having something done to you)

By combining these, you create the meaning "was made to do [action]." This form always carries a negative connotation of annoyance, burden, or suffering. You use it when you want to emphasize that you did not want to perform the action, but had no choice because someone else made you do it.

How to Form the Causative-Passive

To build this form, you take the causative stem of a verb and attach the passive ending . The exact pattern depends on whether the verb is a Godan (u-verb) or an Ichidan (ru-verb).

Ichidan Verbs

For Ichidan verbs, simply take the causative form (which ends in ), drop the final , and add .

Dictionary Form	Causative Form	Causative-Passive Form	Meaning
			Forced to eat
			Forced to look/watch
			Forced to wake up

Godan Verbs

For Godan verbs, the standard (long) formation follows the exact same logic: take the causative form (ending in ), drop the , and add .

Dictionary Form	Causative Form	Causative-Passive Form (Long)	Meaning
			Forced to write
			Forced to read
			Forced to speak
			Forced to wait

The Shortened Colloquial Form

Because the standard causative-passive form for Godan verbs is very long and difficult to say quickly (e.g., ), Japanese speakers almost always use a shortened, colloquial contraction in daily life.

To make the short form for Godan verbs, you take the a-stem of the verb and simply attach .

Dictionary Form	Short Causative-Passive	Breakdown
		+
		+
		+
		+

Note: For verbs ending in (like ), the short form creates a repetitive "sa-sa" sound (). While you will occasionally hear this colloquial contraction, many native speakers prefer to stick to the long form () for these specific verbs to avoid the awkward pronunciation.

Why no short form for Ichidan verbs? Ichidan verbs do not have a shortened form. You must use the full ending because trying to shorten it would just result in the standard passive form (), changing the meaning entirely.

Contrasting Causative, Passive, and Causative-Passive

To fully understand the nuance, it helps to see how the meaning shifts as you change the conjugation. Here is a comparison using the verb .

Form	Japanese Concept	English Nuance
Standard	Action	"I drink."
causative form	Making/Letting	"I make (someone) drink."
passive form	Suffering/Done to	"It is drunk (by someone)." / "I suffer because someone drank my drink."
Causative-Passive	Forced Action	"I am forced to drink (against my will)."

Examples in Daily Life

The causative-passive is heavily used when complaining about things you had to do at work, at school, or at home.

In these sentences, the person who was forced to do the action is marked by the topic particle (or omitted if it is "I"), and the person forcing the action is marked by .

Examples

Study Tips

Because the causative-passive form involves stacking two conjugations together, the resulting words can feel very long and clunky when you first encounter them.

You do not need to drill conjugation tables endlessly. Instead, focus on recognizing the and endings when reading or listening. Once you hear these patterns used in natural complaints or stories during your A Practical Guide to Language Immersion, the feeling of "being forced against one's will" will naturally attach itself to the grammar in your mind.