The Causative Verb Form
The active form of the verb gives the sense of: - making someone do.. or - getting someone to do.. or in the Causative sense: - to have something done by somebody.. - to get something done by something.. In the case where English uses get done by.. or to have done by.. then Turkish uses the Causative form of the verb.
In English one might say:
- The Active Verb
- I'm going to clean the car - to clean it myself
- or use The Causative Form
- I'll get John to clean the car - - to get, to cause John to clean it.
Formation of the Causative Verb Form
The Causative verb stem is usually formed by adding -dir to the basic verb stem or -tir if the verb stem ends in an unvoiced consonant . The suffix follows Vowel Harmony Rules and is subject to Consonant Mutation
So the Causative Suffix possibilites due to the above rules are:
-dir-/-tir-, -dır-/-tır- , -dur-/-tur-, -dür-/-tür-
The resulting causative verb stem can have all mood and tense endings added as required. There are some exceptions to the above rule which will be discussed later.
Regularly Formed Examples - Causative Verbs
Basic Verb
- gülmek - to laugh
- ona güldüm - I laughed at him
Causative Form
- güldürmek -to make laugh/cause to laugh
- onu güldürdüm - I made him laugh
- beni güldürdü - He made me laugh
Basic Verb
- bilmek - to know
- onu biliyorum - I know that.
Causative Form
- bildirmek - to make known
- Mehmed' e haberi bildirdik - We made the news known to Mehmet
Basic Verb
- çalışmak - to work
- Bugün çalışıyorum - I am working today
Causative Form
- çalıştırmak - to cause to work
- Bugün, Mehmed'i çalıştırıyorum - I am getting Mehmet to work today
Basic Verb
- unutmak - to forget
- Çantamı unuttum - I forgot my bag
Causative Form
- unutturmak - to cause to forget
- Mehmed'e çantasını unutturduk - We've let mehmet forget his bag
Examples in the Potential Mood
- onu güldürebilirsiniz - you can make her laugh
- beni güldüremeyecek - he will not be able to make me laugh
- bizi güldüremediler - they couldn't make us laugh
Examples in the Necessitative Mood
- Mehmet seni güldürmeliydi. - Mehmet must have made you laugh.
- onu yaptırmalıyım. - I must have it done.
Irregular Causative Forms
Basic verb Stems ending in a vowel or -r or -l form their causative by the addition of the suffix -t to produce the causative verb stem
Some examples
| Active Verb |
Causative Verb |
| oturmak |
to sit |
oturtmak |
to seat somebody |
| anlamak |
to understand |
anlatmak |
to make understand/to explain |
| boyamak |
to paint |
boyatmak |
to get something painted |
Single Syllable Causative Verb Forms
Some verbs mainly of a single syllable root form their causative by the addition of -ır, that is the initial --d- or -t- of the causative verb sign is dropped.
This generally happens when the basic verb stem terminates in -ç or -ş but there are other verbs included in this group.
It should be noted that some verbs which end in -ç or -ş take the full -tir suffix. However the problem of these irregularities is not too great as the number of verbs involved is quite small although some of them are fairly common. These are best learned separately.
The following is a quite comprehensive list of these mutated verbs:
Some examples
| Basic Verb |
Causative Verb |
| artmak |
to increase |
artırmak |
to cause to increase |
| batmak |
to sink |
batırmak |
to cause to sink |
| bitmek |
to finish |
bitirmek |
to finish off |
| doğmak |
to be born |
doğurmak |
to give birth |
| doymak |
to be filled |
doyurmak |
to fill up s.o. |
| düşmek |
to fall |
düşürmek |
to cause to fall/to drop s.o |
| geçmek |
to pass |
geçırmek |
to cause to pass |
| göçmek |
to move/migrate |
göçürmek |
to evict |
| içmek |
to drink/smoke |
içirmek |
to cause to drink |
| kaçmak |
to escape |
kaçırmak |
to miss/let escape |
| pişmek |
to cook (by itself) |
pişirmek |
to cook something |
| şaşmak |
to be surprised |
şaşırmak |
to surpise s.o. |
| şişmek |
to swell |
şişirmek |
to cause to swell |
| taşmak |
to overflow |
taşırmak |
to cause to overflow |
| uçmak |
to fly |
uçurmak |
to cause to fly |
Note: One of the duties of the Causative is to make a Transitive Verb (one which takes an Object) out of an Intransitive Verb (which has no Object). This can readily be seen in the examples above:
Pişmek - to cook (by itself) - ie. The eggs are cooking in the pan.. - which is Intransitive as it has no object.
Pişirmek - to cook something - ie. Ali is cooking the eggs in the pan.. - which is Transitive as Ali (the subject) is cooking the eggs (the Object) - and therefore the Verb is the Transitive form.
If you inspect the examples you will see that some of the Active forms are Intransitive whilst their Causative Form is the Transitive Verb.
We should note that this is the reason that the Turkish verb for - to eat - is - yemek yemek - The first - yemek - means - food - and the second - yemek - means - to eat.
Yemek - is a Transitive verb in Turkish so therefore must always take an Object, Whereas in English the verb - to eat - can be Transitive or Intransitive.
Example:
Ali, lokantada yemek yiyor - Ali is eating food in the cafe - (must be Transitive), whereas in English we just say - Ali is eating in the cafe. - (Intransitive).
Regular Causative Verb Formation
Note: Other verbs are regular in their causative formation even if they are single syllable and end in an unvoiced consonant - some examples:
| Active Verb |
Causative Verb |
| bakmak |
to look |
baktırmak |
to cause to look |
| itmek |
to push |
ittirmek |
to cause to push |
| koşmak |
to run |
koşturmak |
to cause to run |
| satmak |
to sell |
sattırmak |
to cause to sell |
| sevmek |
to love |
sevdirmek |
to cause to love |
There are a few verbs whose basic verb stem ends in -k that take -ıt as their causative sign:
| Active Verb |
Causative Verb |
| akmak |
to flow |
akıtmak |
to cause to flow |
| sarkmak |
to hang down |
sarkıtmak |
to hang s.o. up |
| ürkmek |
to have a scare |
ürkütmek |
to startle |
There are few verbs which take -ar or -er as their causative sign.
| Active Verb |
Causative Verb |
| çıkmak |
to go out/to exit |
çıkarmak |
to send out |
| gitmek |
to go |
gidermek |
to send away/to remove |
| kopmak |
to snap itself |
koparmak |
to break s.o.off |
| onmak |
to mend |
onarmak |
to have repaired |
One verb is completely irregular:
| Active Verb |
Causative Verb |
| görmek - to see |
göstermek - to show |
All these are common verbs and should be learnt as irregularities:
Further Explanation
It can be seen from the meanings in English of the Causative Verb that it is used when an instrument or a person causes a verb action, and as such can have a different verb used in English to show the causative sense. It is therefore sometimes difficult to select the correct English verb in translation from Turkish. Practice and observation are necessary to ensure correct understanding and use of this verb form.
Some Examples
For instance if we say:
- Mutfakta yemek pişiyor - The food - (the subject) - is cooking in the kitchen.
- Basic verb - the food is cooking by itself
- Mehmet, mufakta yemeği pişiriyor - Mehmet is cooking the food - (objective case) - in the kitchen.
- Causative Verb - Mehmet is causing the food to cook.
In the case above the same verb - to cook - is used in English for both basic and causative verbs.
But In the following a different verb is used in English:
Active Verb - to understand
- Cevabı anladım -I understood the answer.
- anlamak - to understand
Causative Verb - To explain - (Lit: to cause to understand)
- Cevabı anlattım - I explained the answer.
- anlatmak - to cause to understand
We have to realise that in English the Causative Verb is often a different verb altogether from the Active Verb wheras Turkish uses its Causative form of the Active Form.
Examples of Different Verb Use in English
- to die - to kill/to murder - (Lit: to cause to die)
- to see - to show - (Lit: to cause to see)
- to halt - to stop - (Lit: to cause to halt)
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Causing a Third Party to Act
The "Doubled" Causative
This is basically a doubled causative verb formed by adding -t or sometimes -tir to the regular causative verb.
I made him paint the car. I got him to paint the car. I had him paint the car
All the above are translated: arabayı ona boyattırdım
In this case we are causing a third party to act as the agent . In these type of sentences the agent has the -a or -e (indirect object) case endings: ie. I caused FOR him to paint the car. The verb is basically a doubled causative form. boya -t -tir -mak. Other doubled causatives are formed similarly:
Examples of Doubled Causatives
The Doubles Causative is used when you get someone else to do the job ie. You cause them to have the job done.
For instance - I got my car repaired at the garage - Arabamı garajda tamir ettirdim - uses a Single Causative.
Whereas - I got the garage to repair my car - Arabamı garaja tamir ettirttim - uses a Double Causative
- anlattırmak (anla -t -tır -mak) - to have something explained
- tamir ettirtmek (et -tir -t -mek ) - to have something repaired
- yaptırıltmak (yap -tır -ıl -t -mak) - to have something done
Note: If two letter -tt- occur together, then they are both pronounced individually.
These forms do crop up quite regularly, especially in newspaper reports about agencies, ministers, governments etc. having something carried out by a third party
