させる(使役)
saseru-shieki
The same hand pushes and clears the way
The picture I reach out and set someone else in motion. Push hard and it is an order; step aside and open a path and it is permission. させる is my push setting someone moving; られる is someone else's push landing on me.
Where the picture shows up in させる(使役)
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a hard push from above
部長は私に残業させました。
buchō wa watashi ni zangyō sasemashita
The manager made me work overtime.
The manager's hand presses my shoulder back down into the chair, and the papers pile up on the desk.
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the hand that gets them moving
子どもに野菜を食べさせます。
kodomo ni yasai o tabesasemasu
I get my child to eat vegetables.
A spoonful of vegetables is pushed right up to the child's mouth.
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asking to be pushed
少し休ませてください。
sukoshi yasumasete kudasai
Please let me rest a moment.
You gesture for someone to push you toward the chair, asking for a place to sit down.
させてください means 'let me do it'. You will use it several times a day in a Japanese workplace.
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a push that opens a road
娘を留学させたい。
musume o ryūgaku sasetai
I want to send my daughter to study abroad.
The hand that was blocking your daughter moves aside and opens the road to the plane.
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my push put that feeling there
心配させてすみません。
shinpai sasete sumimasen
I'm sorry for worrying you.
Because of my push, the worry lines gather on the other person's face.
All of it in one picture
させる is not the single word 'make'; it is the picture of my hand setting someone else in motion. Press the shoulder and it is an order; push the spoon to the mouth and it is feeding; ask to be pushed toward the chair and it becomes a request for permission. Even moving your hand aside to open the road counts, because you were the one who set her going — and if the push put worry on someone's face, that feeling is yours too. Hard shove or step aside, the movement always starts at my hand.