Two 'identical' sentences

[TexMurphy01]

Hi there.

Okay, my japanese teacher and I were discussing how to say that someone made you laugh. We covered 'warawasete kuremasu' and then I asked about how the grammar would work in the sentence, i.e. who the subject was etc.

She provided me with the following two sentences:

Lily chan ha watashi wo warawasete kuremasu

and

Watashi ha Lily chan ni warawaseraremasu

As a learner, I asked what the difference was between these two. She told me they were both the same. Perhaps there was some misunderstanding there, but clearly as a learner I look at the two and see they are not the same (I acknowledge the meaning may be essentially the same, but as a learned I wish to understand the sentence structure too).

Could someone explain the differences? The first one is as we had discussed, but the second one seems to be passive.

Thanks.

 

[Mike Cash]

One is causative, the other is passive (and causative). The result (you laugh) is the same.

 

[Toritoribe]

Watashi ha Lily chan ni warawaseraremasu

"Warau" is a godan verb, so the shortened causative passive form "warawasaremasu" is more commonly used than "warawaseraremasu".

Japanese verb conjugation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[FrustratedDave]

The two sentences still have different nuances, so not the same in my book.

 

[Zlarp]

Not that I have anything of import to add to the discussion, but warawaseraremasu is hard to say.

 

[FrustratedDave]

Not that I have anything of import to add to the discussion, but warawaseraremasu is hard to say.

And rarely would you ever use it in the real world.