Tuesday, April 25, 2017

causation - How to use both causative and て欲しい grammar at the same time?


I want to say the following in Japanese.



I want the police officer to make the dog bite the snatcher.



My attempt is as follows.




私は警察官に犬にひったくりを噛ませて欲しい。



Is it correct? Is it possible to use just one に?



Answer




「[私]{わたし}は[警察官]{けいさつかん}[犬]{いぬ}ひったくりを[噛]{か}ませて[欲]{ほ}しい。」



is correct if I have to choose between "correct" and "incorrect".


A little more natural-sounding word order IMHO would be:




「私は警察官、ひったくりを犬に噛ませて欲しい。」



for clarity reasons. Cramming the phrase 「AB」 into the same part of a sentence is not such a great idea even though it is still grammatical.


Finally, if you used 「噛み[付]{つ}かせて」 instead of 「噛ませて」, it would be even more natural.


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