Pivot Sentences with 让, 叫, 请 and 使
Say who asks, invites or makes someone do something, as in 老师让我们读课文 and 这件事让我很高兴.
Pattern
subject + 让/叫/请/使 + person + verb phrase (or adjective)
The person in the middle does two jobs: object of 让 and subject of the next verb.
老师让我们读课文。
When to use Pivot Sentences with 让, 叫, 请 and 使
In a pivot (兼语) sentence, one person is both the object of the first verb and the subject of the second: in 老师让我们读课文, 我们 is who the teacher asks, and also who reads. The order is subject + 让/叫/请 + person + second verb. 让 and 叫 mean “ask, tell” and 请 means “invite, treat”; when the subject is a thing or an event, 让 means “make”: 这件事让我很高兴.
我请你吃饭吧。
Let me treat you to a meal.
爸爸叫我去买牛奶。
Dad told me to go and buy milk.
这件事让我很高兴。
This made me very happy.
他的话让大家都笑了。
What he said made everyone laugh.
Common traps
- Put the person between the two verbs: 老师让我们读课文, not 老师让读课文我们.
- Use 让, not 使, for asking or allowing: 妈妈让我去买菜, not 妈妈使我去买菜.
- To say someone won’t allow something, put 不 before 让: 爸爸不让我去, not 爸爸让我不去 (that means Dad told me not to go).
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