让 / 叫 / 使
ràng / jiào / shǐ
Causative verbs
让 and its relatives make someone else do something — the person comes between the two verbs.
Subj. + 让 / 叫 / 请 / 使 + Person + Predicate
How it works
你为什么不让我去? — why won't you let me go? The structure is: subject, 让, person, then what that person does.
让 covers both "let" and "make", and context decides which. 叫 is blunter, 请 politer, 使 more abstract and literary (使我很高兴).
Negate the 让, not the second verb: 他不让我去.
Examples
nǐ wèi shén me bú ràng wǒ qù?
你为什么不让我去？
Why won't you let me go?
lǎo shī jiào wǒ men xiě zuò yè
老师叫我们写作业。
The teacher had us do homework.
zhè jiàn shì shǐ wǒ hěn gāo xìng
这件事使我很高兴。
This made me very happy.