Using the causative form (使役形) to create humble language (謙譲語)?


**"この町に住ませて頂きたいんです。"** is a line from a movie. That grammar makes sense to me.
In this context, 使役形 is used to create a humble mood. (頂く) makes it even more
humble.

Based on that, today I said: **"３年ぐらい、広島に住ませて頂きました。"** I was told that is
incorrect. In fact, this is correct: **"3年ぐらい、広島に住ませてくれました。"** This grammar
confuses me.

I feel that **"この町に住ませて頂きたいんです。"** should be sounded-out into passive voice:
_"I want to be forced to live in this town."_

However, I don't know how to sound-out **"3年ぐらい、広島に住ませてくれました。"** into passive
voice? By using 使役形 in this context, I am just pretending that someone has
power over me (so as to humble myself). But, when I hear 「くれる」, I sense that
the two parties must be specified (me and someone else). But, since I am just
pretending there is someone with that power, there really is no one else.




「この町に住ませて頂きたいんです。」 is a fairly unusual way of saying that one wants to live in
a certain town because people just do not have to beg to live in a certain
town in real life --- at least not in Japan anyway. Who said it to whom in the
film? And in what kind of situation?

For the same reason, 「３年ぐらい、広島に住ませて頂きました。」 sounds strange. (That comma is
unnecessary BTW.) It sounds as if you begged someone for some kind of rent-
free arrangement or you had to receive permission from the police or court to
live there because you were on probation or something. Or are you just
incredibly super-humble to begin with?

「3年ぐらい、広島に住ませてくれました。」 means a different thing than the sentence immediately
above in that with 住ませて頂きました, the unmentioned subject of the sentence is the
speaker, but with 住ませてくれました, the subject is another person who let you live
there (probably for a very low or free rent and even with board). So, if it is
that kind of person that you wanted to talk about, 「3年ぐらい、広島に住ませてくれました。」 is a
very natural-sounding sentence.




「この町に住ませて頂きたいんです。」 is a fairly unusual way of saying that one wants to live in
a certain town because people just do not have to beg to live in a certain
town in real life --- at least not in Japan anyway. Who said it to whom in the
film? And in what kind of situation?

For the same reason, 「３年ぐらい、広島に住ませて頂きました。」 sounds strange. (That comma is
unnecessary BTW.) It sounds as if you begged someone for some kind of rent-
free arrangement or you had to receive permission from the police or court to
live there because you were on probation or something. Or are you just
incredibly super-humble to begin with?

「3年ぐらい、広島に住ませてくれました。」 means a different thing than the sentence immediately
above in that with 住ませて頂きました, the unmentioned subject of the sentence is the
speaker, but with 住ませてくれました, the subject is another person who let you live
there (probably for a very low or free rent and even with board). So, if it is
that kind of person that you wanted to talk about, 「3年ぐらい、広島に住ませてくれました。」 is a
very natural-sounding sentence.

