させてください
- 1Asks the listener's permission for the speaker to do something ("please let me ~").Ex. 1
- 2Eagerly volunteers or offers to take something on, often with ぜひ ("please allow me to ~").Ex. 2
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It is common in everyday polite speech, at work and in service settings, when the speaker wants to do something that needs the listener's approval. Adding ぜひ makes it sound eager, while ちょっと考えさせてください is a set phrase for asking time to think. Unlike てください, the action belongs to the speaker, not the listener.
Learners sometimes say 考えてください when they mean "let me think", which instead asks the listener to think.
Do not add an extra さ to Group 1 verbs, as in 書かさせてください; the standard form is 書かせてください.
Note that ちょっと考えさせてください often works as a polite way to postpone or softly decline an offer.
- 〜てもいいですかN5「〜てもいいですか」attaches to the te-form of a verb and asks for permission as a question, in a mild tone that leaves the decision to the listener, while「させてください」carries stronger volition. The former can also attach to nouns and adjectives to ask whether a certain condition is acceptable.
- てもいいN5「てもいい」attaches to the te-form of a verb and asks for permission through「〜てもいいですか」, in a relatively mild tone;「させてください」is a request with stronger volition. 「てもいい」can also mean '…is also fine' and can attach to adjectives and nouns.
- させるN4「させる」is the causative form itself, describing a causer making someone do something, allowing someone to do something, or causing a certain emotion; it does not express a request. To say 'please let me (or someone on my side)…', you cannot use「させる」alone — use「させてください」.
- てくださいN5「てください」asks the listener to do something (it can also encourage them to do as they like), with the action performed by the listener;「させてください」asks the listener to let you or your side do it. The former attaches to the te-form of a verb and the latter to the te-form of the causative, so they cannot be interchanged.
- ていただけませんかN4「ていただけませんか」attaches to the te-form and asks the listener to do something, while「させてください」attaches to the causative te-form and requests that your side be allowed to do it; they cannot be interchanged. The former is more humble, and combining the two as「させていただけませんか」is more polite.
させてください is the causative させる plus てください, so it asks permission for the speaker's own action, whereas てください and ていただけませんか request an action from the listener. Compared with 〜てもいいですか, which simply asks whether something is allowed, it is a direct request for permission; てもいい states or grants permission rather than requesting it.
