止められる / 入るはずです / 登ったりロープ / させられる

Hi,


1. The manager of an apartment building is talking to one of the residents who has parked his bicycle in an inconvenient place.

あのう、ここに止められると困るんですよね。

Is 止められる passive (i.e. "(if the bicyle) is parked (here)") or active honorific? How can you tell? I know that passive is mostly supposed to be used for human subjects, but I see too many exceptions to be confident about applying that rule.


2. The manager has said that most of the block's residents have bicycles.

数のわりに駐輪場が狭いから申し訳ないとは思うけど、ちゃんと止めれば入るはずですから。

Is the last part of this saying that if people park properly then all the bicycles ought to fit in the small space?


3. 登ったりロープを結べるような木もある。

a) Does 登ったり modify ロープ? Is that grammatically possible? Does it mean "ropes you can climb and do other things with"?

b) I'm a bit unsure about the purpose of ような here. Is it saying that there are ropes tied to the trees, or is it expressing a potential, or something else?


4. ただし、子供たちが大きなけがをせずに、好奇心と冒険心を満足させられるように、必ず大人リーダーがいて、それを見守っている。

I believe this means "However, so that the children can satisfy their curiosity and adventurousness without serious injury, adult leaders are always present to supervise them."

However, I do not understand させられる, which to me it looks like causative passive of する (i.e. "made to do"). Why the use of that verb form? Edited: or could it mean "are able to do"?

1)
It's 迷惑の受身 "passive of adversity", and the subject(those who suffers the adversity) is "we/the other residents and I".

泥棒が財布を盗んだ。 --> 私は(the one who suffers the adversity)泥棒に(actual doer)財布を(object)盗まれた。
あなたが自転車を止める。 --> （私たちは/があなたに自転車を）止められる。

The expressions 財布が盗まれた or 自転車が止められる are also possible, but the actual subjects are the same.

2)
Yes.

3)
登ったり、ロープを結べたりするような木 makes sense?

4)
Yes, that's potential causative.

"potential causative" is not a term that I have met before. Is it formed the same way as the causative passive? Is it considered a separate verb form, or just a particular use of the causative passive?

What I'm thinking is that the causative can mean "make/cause someone do something" or "allow someone to do something", depending on context, so the passive version of this can mean "someone is made/caused to do something" or "someone is allowed to do something", the latter being what we have here. Is that correct?

I understand the rest, thanks.

I thought you were talking about the potential form and "do" was for "make", i.e. you meant "are able to make" by "are able to do".


子供たちの好奇心が満足する。
Children's curiosity is satisfied.

causative: 子供たちが（自分達の）好奇心を満足させる。
(Lit.) Children make their curiosity satisfied. (= Children satisfy their curiosity.)

potential causative: 子供たちが好奇心を満足させられる。
(Lit.) Children can make their curiosity satisfied. (= Children can satisfy their curiosity.)


The potential (of) causative form and the causative passive form are completely the same, since the causative ～せる/させる conjugates as an ichidan verb, and the potential form and the passive form are the same in ichidan verbs.
Incidentally, unlike causative passive, potential causative is not abbreviated(せられる --> される), thus, for instance, 行かされる is only used as the causative passive "to be made to go", and never used as the potential causative "to be able to make someone go".

I see, thanks, I didn't previously know that you could make a potential form of a causative in that way.