The grammar of 世話になる


One of my dictionaries tells me that 世話になる means 'to receive a favour', but
another dictionary gives this as an example 「おばさんの世話になりました」which it translates
as "I was looked after by my aunt". I guess in this example I can't treat
世話になる as a verb because you can't write nounのverb, so what is the best way to
understand this construct?

In another example I see

> くまがたいへん世話になった人...
>
> The person from whom the bear received a favour (my translation)

I think I'm happy with the grammar in that one.

My question is how do I use 世話になる correctly? How can I say

> Bob received a favour from Alice,
>
> Bob helped out Alice
>
> and
>
> Bob was looked after by Alice

Please also help me to understand the grammar in each case. And if at the end
of that you're still feeling generous with your time, how does 世話をする fit into
the picture. Many thanks.




My first reaction upon reading this question, honestly, was to say to myself:

_**" Why would you use English 'translations' of the Japanese phrase for its
grammar analysis?"**_ (I said that in Japanese, though.)

> 「世話{せわ}になる」 vs. "to receive a favor" or "to be looked after"

"To receive a favor" is in **active** voice and "to be looked after" is in
**passive**. To me at least, that should be a problem big enough to prevent
you from a good and fair analysis of 「世話になる」, _**which is always in active
voice within Japanese**_.

Notice that I am not questioning the accuracy of the two translations. They
are actually OK. I am only saying that we should not be mislead by the
coexistence of two grammatically different translations.

The super-literal translation of 「世話になる」 would be " _ **to become trouble
to/for**_ ". While you may never use that in actual translation from Japanese,
but I feel it is imperative that you know that that is basically what the
phrase means to Japanese-speakers. 「世話になる」 is _**not**_ some idiomatic
expression.

> 「A + は/が + B + の + 世話になる」 (B is the care-taker.)
>
> = "A becomes B's trouble." (super-literal)
>
> = "A receives a favor from B."
>
> = "A is looked after by B."

Now, using 「世話 **をする** 」 instead of 「世話 **になる** 」,

> 「B + は/が + A + の + 世話 **をする** 」 (B is the care-taker)
>
> = "B looks after A."
>
> = "A receives a favor from B."
>
> = "A is looked after by B."

Regardless of the situation/context, basically, you could express any
"someone-helps-another" sentences using the two patterns above using 「なる」 and
「する」.

Let us look at your examples.

**" Bob received a favour from Alice."**

= 「ボブはアリスの世話になった。」

≒ 「アリスはボブの世話をした。」

**" Bob helped out Alice."**

= 「ボブはアリスの世話をした。」

≒ 「アリスはボブの世話になった。」

**" Bob was looked after by Alice."**

= 「ボブはアリスの世話になった。」

≒ 「アリスはボブの世話をした。」

**TL;DR:**

It is all about 「なる」vs.「する」.

> 「(Care-Receiver) + は/が + (Care-Provider) + の + 世話 **になる** 。」
>
> 「(Care-Provider) + は/が + (Care-Receiver) + の + 世話 **をする** 。」




My first reaction upon reading this question, honestly, was to say to myself:

_**" Why would you use English 'translations' of the Japanese phrase for its
grammar analysis?"**_ (I said that in Japanese, though.)

> 「世話{せわ}になる」 vs. "to receive a favor" or "to be looked after"

"To receive a favor" is in **active** voice and "to be looked after" is in
**passive**. To me at least, that should be a problem big enough to prevent
you from a good and fair analysis of 「世話になる」, _**which is always in active
voice within Japanese**_.

Notice that I am not questioning the accuracy of the two translations. They
are actually OK. I am only saying that we should not be mislead by the
coexistence of two grammatically different translations.

The super-literal translation of 「世話になる」 would be " _ **to become trouble
to/for**_ ". While you may never use that in actual translation from Japanese,
but I feel it is imperative that you know that that is basically what the
phrase means to Japanese-speakers. 「世話になる」 is _**not**_ some idiomatic
expression.

> 「A + は/が + B + の + 世話になる」 (B is the care-taker.)
>
> = "A becomes B's trouble." (super-literal)
>
> = "A receives a favor from B."
>
> = "A is looked after by B."

Now, using 「世話 **をする** 」 instead of 「世話 **になる** 」,

> 「B + は/が + A + の + 世話 **をする** 」 (B is the care-taker)
>
> = "B looks after A."
>
> = "A receives a favor from B."
>
> = "A is looked after by B."

Regardless of the situation/context, basically, you could express any
"someone-helps-another" sentences using the two patterns above using 「なる」 and
「する」.

Let us look at your examples.

**" Bob received a favour from Alice."**

= 「ボブはアリスの世話になった。」

≒ 「アリスはボブの世話をした。」

**" Bob helped out Alice."**

= 「ボブはアリスの世話をした。」

≒ 「アリスはボブの世話になった。」

**" Bob was looked after by Alice."**

= 「ボブはアリスの世話になった。」

≒ 「アリスはボブの世話をした。」

**TL;DR:**

It is all about 「なる」vs.「する」.

> 「(Care-Receiver) + は/が + (Care-Provider) + の + 世話 **になる** 。」
>
> 「(Care-Provider) + は/が + (Care-Receiver) + の + 世話 **をする** 。」

