EDIT: OK, I've had a chat with a native Japanese person and they have cleared it up for me.
The phrase that was puzzling me was:
May I come in?
入れてもらえますか?
Apparently, you can say this in a situation where there is a group of people chatting, say, and you would like to join them. In this case it is those people who are including you, so really they are the subject of 'ireru' and you are the object. The closest translation might be "Could you possibly include me?"
A more normal phrase for 'may I come in' could be:
入ってもいいですか？
haitte mo ii desu ka?
Original post:
I've seen this phrase:
May I come in?
入れてもらえますか?
In this, it seems that it is the person receiving the benefit that is also the one doing the entering?
I find this a bit confusing because the construction tends to be explained as someone else doing the action, but perhaps a better way to explain it is that the person doing the receiving is receiving a benefit, but who is doing the action should be clear from the context?
Thank you for any help!
EDIT: It's the 13th phrase down here https://japanesetest4you.com/infographic-common-questions-in-japanese-part-1/
Not sure if this is a good resource?
by smart_hedonism