"Makes you/me/..." by a nonhuman agent


I'm wondering how sentences are typically made for the pattern "(some non
human thing) makes me/you/etc (reaction)." For example, "reading this book
makes me think." Or "going to school makes me happy." I suppose if you
directly translated these it would be something using ～させる, like この本読むと考えさせる
but I feel like that is usually unnatural in this case. It seems using words
like ～たくなる and such are more common. What is the extent of ～させるs usefulness in
this case and what is the most natural option?




You have partly answered your own question. Historically, Japanese has tended
not to use an inanimate thing as a subject as if it had its own will. It's
usually preferred to rephrase the sentence using a human as the subject. In
your examples, you can say:

>   * この本を読むと考えさせられる。  
>  (Literally, "When I read this book, I am made to think." Notice the
> causative-passive form. この本を読むと考えたくなる means "This books make me feel like
> thinking deeply", and this may be fine if the book is a certain type of
> self-help book.)
>   * 学校に行くと楽しくなる。  
>  (Lit. "When I go to school, I become happy.")
>

The following sentences are not wrong but tend to sound less natural in
Japanese:

>   * この本は私に考えさせる。  
>  (Lit. "This book makes me think.")
>   * 学校に行くことは私を楽しくさせる。  
>  (Lit. "Going to school makes me happy.")
>

See this question for similar examples: [In Japanese, can we say an object
asks a question?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/32436/5010)

This is also related: [Does 考えさせられる小説 make
sense?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/61710/5010)




You have partly answered your own question. Historically, Japanese has tended
not to use an inanimate thing as a subject as if it had its own will. It's
usually preferred to rephrase the sentence using a human as the subject. In
your examples, you can say:

>   * この本を読むと考えさせられる。  
>  (Literally, "When I read this book, I am made to think." Notice the
> causative-passive form. この本を読むと考えたくなる means "This books make me feel like
> thinking deeply", and this may be fine if the book is a certain type of
> self-help book.)
>   * 学校に行くと楽しくなる。  
>  (Lit. "When I go to school, I become happy.")
>

The following sentences are not wrong but tend to sound less natural in
Japanese:

>   * この本は私に考えさせる。  
>  (Lit. "This book makes me think.")
>   * 学校に行くことは私を楽しくさせる。  
>  (Lit. "Going to school makes me happy.")
>

See this question for similar examples: [In Japanese, can we say an object
asks a question?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/32436/5010)

This is also related: [Does 考えさせられる小説 make
sense?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/61710/5010)

