SethClydesdale
commented
5 months ago Hello @tanbrian!
The potential form for 刺す is 刺せる leading to 刺せます when using ます form. For す-verbs, the passive form is typically conjugated to ～される which is why 刺す becomes 刺される and 刺されます respectively. You can compare the different conjugations here if you like.
As for the translations, they appear to be accurate since the causative-passive form usually involves forcing or making someone do something that they don't want to do. Technically, you could indeed use both "made" or "forced" in this context, but I went with what was written in the workbook in this case. Causative also has the implications of making one do something, however, it lacks that added disagreeable feeling one would have which the causative-passive form possesses. Fortunately this set of problems indicates it's for the passive and causative-passive forms, which rules out usage of the regular causative form. Regardless, it would be a little tricky to differentiate the two once translated over to English without some added context, like the one being forced to do something groaning or using a disagreeable/dejected tone for causative-passive.
Sorry for the book. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!
tanbrian
This workbook lesson is about using passive vs. causative-passive sentences, but I'm pretty sure 刺されました is the potential form isn't it? I think it should be 刺さられました, which is the passive form.
On a kind of related note, the English translations for the sentences that are supposed to be causative-passive seems off. For example, instead of "My parents made me give up on travel", shouldn't it be "I was forced by my parents to give up on travel"? The former is just regular causative, whereas the latter is causative-passive. Thoughts?