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I was reading up some lesson on causative and passive form online. I am still a little confused as to when and why use these form. For this example:

plain form: 答える
passive form: 答えられる

外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。
I was asked a question by a foreigner but I couldn't answer.

Why do we use passive here? What if I say:

外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えなかった。

Does this mean the same? Or is this sentence even correct in the first place?

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1 Answers1

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「答{こた}えられる」 has three different usages and meanings.

  1. Honorific: Used when describing someone higher up answering.

「その質問{しつもん}にはスミス様{さま}が答えられました。」

= "Mr. Smith (kindly) answered the question."

  1. Potential: Used to express "can answer" or "to be able to answer".

「その質問は難{むずか}しすぎて答えられません。」

= "That question is too difficult (for me) to answer."

  1. Passive Voice: Used to express "is/are/get(s) answerd" as opposed to the active voice form "to answer"

「Aの質問は私に、そしてBの質問はマサコさんによって答えられました。」

= "Question A was answered by me and Question B, by Masako."

＊You mentioned "causative", but the causative form is 「答えさせる」and not 「答えられる」.

Finally, let us discuss the difference between 「答えられなかった」 and 「答えなかった」.

The former means that one was unable to answer a question (mostly or entirely because the question was too difficult).

The latter means that one chose not to (or declined to) answer a question even though one knew the answer.