Thursday, August 24, 2017

grammar - Need help understanding causative and passive form: 外国人に質 問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。


I was reading up some lesson on causative and passive form online. I am still a little confused as to when and why use these form. For this example:



plain form: 答える
passive form: 答えられる


外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。
I was asked a question by a foreigner but I couldn't answer.



Why do we use passive here? What if I say:




外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えなかった。



Does this mean the same? Or is this sentence even correct in the first place?



Answer



「答{こた}えられる」 has three different usages and meanings.




  1. Honorific: Used when describing someone higher up answering.




「その質問{しつもん}にはスミス様{さま}が答えられました。」


= "Mr. Smith (kindly) answered the question."




  1. Potential: Used to express "can answer" or "to be able to answer".



「その質問は難{むずか}しすぎて答えられません。」


= "That question is too difficult (for me) to answer."





  1. Passive Voice: Used to express "is/are/get(s) answerd" as opposed to the active voice form "to answer"



「Aの質問は私、そしてBの質問はマサコさんによって答えられました。」


= "Question A was answered by me and Question B, by Masako."


*You mentioned "causative", but the causative form is 「答えさせる」and not 「答えられる」.


Finally, let us discuss the difference between 「答えられなかった」 and 「答えなかった」.


The former means that one was unable to answer a question (mostly or entirely because the question was too difficult).


The latter means that one chose not to (or declined to) answer a question even though one knew the answer.



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