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Why does どこで起こしましたか means `where did you wake up` while どこで起こったのですか means
`where did it happen`?
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2022-05-05T08:24:22.853
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2022-05-06T03:14:39.530
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question
meaning sentence
Why is 起こしましたか woke up while 起こったのですか is happened?
First of all, 起こす and 起こる are two different verbs. There are three related
verbs you have to remember and distinguish:

  * [**起こす**](https://jisho.org/word/%E8%B5%B7%E3%81%93%E3%81%99): ( **transitive godan** verb) 
    1. to wake someone up
    2. to cause something; to make something happen; to trigger
  * [**起こる**](https://jisho.org/word/%E8%B5%B7%E3%81%93%E3%82%8B): ( **intransitive godan** verb) 
    1. to happen
  * [**起きる**](https://jisho.org/word/%E8%B5%B7%E3%81%8D%E3%82%8B): ( **intransitive ichidan** verb) 
    1. to wake up; to get up
    2. to happen

Note that **起こす is always transitive** in Japanese although "to wake" is both
intransitive and transitive in English. 起こる only means "to happen", but the
other two verbs each have two different meanings. The difference between 起こる
and 起きる is fairly small when they mean "to happen".

The following sentences are different simply because different verbs are used:

> どこで **起こし** ましたか？  
>  Where did [you] wake [ **him/her** ] up?  
>  Where did [you] cause [ **it** ]?
>
> どこで **起こり** ましたか？  
>  Where did [it] happen?
>
> どこで **起き** ましたか？  
>  Where did [you] wake up?  
>  Where did [it] happen?

And you can attach [explanatory-no](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-
grammar/question-markers/) to any of these. This の is hard to translate into
English, but it's important when you want to speak naturally:

> どこで **起こした** のですか？  
>  Where did [you] wake [ **him/her** ] up?  
>  Where did [you] cause [ **it** ]?
>
> どこで **起こった** のですか？  
>  Where did [it] happen?
>
> どこで **起きた** のですか？  
>  Where did [you] wake up?  
>  Where did [it] happen?

So どこで起こしましたか has two possible meanings depending on the context, while
どこで起こったのですか has only one meaning.
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2022-05-06T02:59:49.283
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2022-05-06T03:14:39.530
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answer