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させてください details

causative

Examples

please let me do it — the speaker volunteers, or asks leave, for something they will do themselves

その仕事しごと、ぜひわたしにやらせてください。

sono shigoto, zehi watashi ni yarasete kudasai.

Please let me be the one to take that job on. neutral

ちょっとかんがえさせて。明日あした返事へんじするから。

chotto kangaesasete. ashita henji suru kara.

Let me think about it — I'll give you an answer tomorrow. casual

すみません、明日あしたすこはやかえらせてください。

sumimasen, ashita wa sukoshi hayaku kaerasete kudasai.

Sorry — please let me leave a little early tomorrow. neutral

本日ほんじつ体調たいちょうすぐれませんので、早退そうたいさせていただけませんか。

honjitsu wa taichou ga suguremasen node, soutai sasete itadakemasen ka.

I'm not feeling well today — might I be allowed to leave early? formal

Formation

Notes

する-verbs take the suppletive させる straight onto the noun —
紹介しょうかいさせてください, never ×紹介しょうかいしさせて — and
goes させてください.

Related patterns

Similar

  • させてもらう announces the speaker is going ahead as though consent were already in hand (説明せつめいさせてもらいます); させてください puts the permission genuinely on the table, so the listener is being asked and can still say no.

Lookalikes

  • The same ください, and the causative flips who does the work — 手伝てつだってください asks the LISTENER to act, 手伝てつだわせてください asks the listener to stand aside and let the SPEAKER act; drop the causative and the request comes out backwards.

  • Bare させる has a causer who is not the speaker and reads as making or letting someone else act (どもに野菜やさいべさせる); wrapped in ください the causer becomes the listener and the actor the speaker, which is what makes it a polite request rather than an order.