# 毎週、週末、母は、けんじくんに、たねをまかせます。



## Anatoli

Hi,

Please translate the highlighted part into English 

毎週、週末、母は、けんじくんに、*たねをまかせます*。


Thanks in advance

EDIT:

Does it mean "makes to sow the seeds"?


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## Flaminius

Right, Anatoli.  It means "to make someone sow (the) seeds."


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## Anatoli

Thanks, Flaminius


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## Anatoli

Thanks guys but I have no problems with Japanese conjugation but some forms can be homophones to others, especially if they are written phonetically.

撒く ->  撒かせる (causative of maku) can be easily confused with 委せる or 任せる, all pronounced as" makaseru".


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## cheshire

Anatoli, I see. I see what your problem was. 金太の大冒険　的な問題だったのね！


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## Aoyama

> It means "to make someone sow (the) seeds."





> some forms can be homophones to others, especially if they are written phonetically.
> 
> 撒く -> 撒かせる (causative of maku) can be easily confused with 委せる or 任せる, all pronounced as" makaseru".


That is very true and that is why this phrase is a little "vicious", not because this mother is asking her son, every end of each week, to sow seeds (though that could be seen a bit like being vicious or *ijiwarui* nowadays) but because writing *まかせます *in kana is an uncalled for difficulty. Writing it with kanji 撒かせる from the start would have helped.
Now , this being said, one may also questioned the usefulness of knowing 撒かせる ... At that level of learning .
And, to finish, I would also rather write :毎週の週末、母は、けんじくんに、たねを撒かせる (Kenji and kun could also be written in kanjis).


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## _forumuser_

Aoyama said:


> That is very true and that is why this phrase is a little "vicious", not because this mother is asking her son, every end of each week, to sow seeds (though that could be seen a bit like being vicious or *ijiwarui* nowadays) but because writing *まかせます *in kana is an uncalled for difficulty. Writing it with kanji 撒かせる from the start would have helped.
> Now , this being said, one may also questioned the usefulness of knowing 撒かせる ... At that level of learning .
> And, to finish, I would also rather write :毎週の週末、母は、けんじくんに、たねを撒かせる (Kenji and kun could also be written in kanjis).


 
Absolutely. For us learners kanji are so often a curse we tend to forget what a blessing they also are!


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## Anatoli

_forumuser_ said:


> Absolutely. For us learners kanji are so often a curse we tend to forget what a blessing they also are!


That's right. I do get confused with simple words like aru, au -> atta, since they have multiple meanings and were written using different kanji but these days they are often written in kana.


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## Flaminius

In kanji representation, "to sow seeds" is 種を播く or 蒔く (maku).  撒く is used in context of scattering something.


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## Anatoli

Flaminius said:


> In kanji representation, "to sow seeds" is 種を播く or 蒔く (maku).  撒く is used in context of scattering something.


Thanks, Flaminius. So, EDICT dictionary is wrong?

All 3 have identical entries:

播く【まく】 (v5k,vt) to scatter; to sprinkle; to sow (seeds).
蒔く【まく】 (v5k,vt) to scatter; to sprinkle; to sow (seeds); (P).
撒く【まく】 (v5k,vt) to scatter; to sprinkle; to sow (seeds); (P).


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## Flaminius

I would say, 

播く【まく】 to sow (seeds).
蒔く【まく】 to sow (seeds); to sprinkle (pulverised metal).
 撒く【まく】 to scatter; to sprinkle; 

The third one, 撒, is the most general kanji, so theoretically one can use this for sowing seeds.  Google seems to be pointing that 種を撒く is indeed an accepted usage.  Perhaps the sole criterion of my not using it is aesthetics.

However, using a kanji with specific usage for a general sentence is far more unacceptable than using a general kanji for a specific sentence.

水を播く is far less acceptable than 種を撒く.


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## Aoyama

I would have also used 種を撒く (also 種 and not たね). But I am using pasting here ...


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