“服を汚した”　vs　“服を汚くした”


Now that I know it's not natural to say “服を汚くした” given no results found, I am
just wondering is it more common to directly use the verb itself than to
change its adjective form into an adverb to modify する？




This is a very interesting question (your before-edit question included), and
before I take a look at comparing your two specific examples, I'd like to take
a look at first comparing 汚い and 汚れる(or rather, the present-state-describing
汚れている), which are in a sense the intransitive versions your examples derive
from.

First, 汚れている. 汚れている in a literal, non-metaphorical sense is an objective
statement/fact that something has an arbitrary amount of literal
dirt/filth/grime on it. What is 汚れている to one person will generally be 汚れている to
other people. This is why I prefer to translate it as "(something) has
dirt/grime/filth on (it)".

On the other hand, 汚い is a subjective statement used to convey that the
speaker feels that something has passed their personal comfort level of
dirt/grime/filth. What is 汚い to one person may not be 汚い to another.

This often leads to 汚い implying a higher level of dirtiness than 汚れている,
because _any_ amount of dirt causes something to be 汚れている, but only after a
certain amount will something be 汚い.

As an example, I often forget to clean the lenses on my glasses for extended
periods of time. If someone were to say to me:

> メガネが汚いよ。

I might retort:

> 全然？はっきり見えているよ。

This is because while it may be true that my glasses have dust/oil/grime on
them, **I** can still see, so to **me** they aren't 汚い.

However, if someone were to say to me and my same dirty glasses:

> メガネがちょっと汚れているよ。

I might look them over and say:

> 確かに、汚れているね。

This is because the fact that my glasses have dust/oil/grime on them is an
objective fact; it cannot be refuted.

Going back to your two examples, 汚くした and 汚した, the same principal applies.

服を汚した implies that objectively, you got an arbitrary amount of dirt on your 服.
However, 服を汚くした implies that the amount of dirt/whatever you got on your
clothes has surpassed a certain threshold, and now you consider them to be
beyond your comfort level of dirtiness.

The same thing applies to other adjective+く+する/verb pairs like 冷たくする/冷やす or
温かくする/温める. The adjective+く+する comes across as much more subjective than the
plain verb.

Whether one is used over the other depends on whether you're overtly trying to
be objective or subjective:

> 冷やした。 → I cooled (it) down. (It decreased in temperature a bit)
>
> 冷たくした。 → I cooled (it) down (to or past my threshold of what I consider
> 'cold').




This is a very interesting question (your before-edit question included), and
before I take a look at comparing your two specific examples, I'd like to take
a look at first comparing 汚い and 汚れる(or rather, the present-state-describing
汚れている), which are in a sense the intransitive versions your examples derive
from.

First, 汚れている. 汚れている in a literal, non-metaphorical sense is an objective
statement/fact that something has an arbitrary amount of literal
dirt/filth/grime on it. What is 汚れている to one person will generally be 汚れている to
other people. This is why I prefer to translate it as "(something) has
dirt/grime/filth on (it)".

On the other hand, 汚い is a subjective statement used to convey that the
speaker feels that something has passed their personal comfort level of
dirt/grime/filth. What is 汚い to one person may not be 汚い to another.

This often leads to 汚い implying a higher level of dirtiness than 汚れている,
because _any_ amount of dirt causes something to be 汚れている, but only after a
certain amount will something be 汚い.

As an example, I often forget to clean the lenses on my glasses for extended
periods of time. If someone were to say to me:

> メガネが汚いよ。

I might retort:

> 全然？はっきり見えているよ。

This is because while it may be true that my glasses have dust/oil/grime on
them, **I** can still see, so to **me** they aren't 汚い.

However, if someone were to say to me and my same dirty glasses:

> メガネがちょっと汚れているよ。

I might look them over and say:

> 確かに、汚れているね。

This is because the fact that my glasses have dust/oil/grime on them is an
objective fact; it cannot be refuted.

Going back to your two examples, 汚くした and 汚した, the same principal applies.

服を汚した implies that objectively, you got an arbitrary amount of dirt on your 服.
However, 服を汚くした implies that the amount of dirt/whatever you got on your
clothes has surpassed a certain threshold, and now you consider them to be
beyond your comfort level of dirtiness.

The same thing applies to other adjective+く+する/verb pairs like 冷たくする/冷やす or
温かくする/温める. The adjective+く+する comes across as much more subjective than the
plain verb.

Whether one is used over the other depends on whether you're overtly trying to
be objective or subjective:

> 冷やした。 → I cooled (it) down. (It decreased in temperature a bit)
>
> 冷たくした。 → I cooled (it) down (to or past my threshold of what I consider
> 'cold').

