The active form of the verb gives the sense of: "doing something" and the passive form "something is being done". The Causative sense is "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" 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]
The Causative Form - I'll get John to clean the car - [to get, to cause John to clean it.]
One of the duties that the Causative Verb form carries out is to make intransitive verbs (which do not take an object) into a transitive verbs (which do take an object).
The verb - durmak - to stop/to halt - is such a word:
Araba caddede durdu - The car stopped in the street. - (There is no object in this sentence , it is intransitive)
Mehmet, arabayı caddede durdurdu - Mehmet stopped the car in the street. - (The object in this sentence is arabyı - the car - it is a transitive sentence)
The translation of the Causative is literal here, but in translation a different verb may be used in English. In first example, the Causative of "to know" has been literally translated as "to make know, to cause to know". In English this may be "to notify, to publish, etc." This diffence in English verb use must be considered when translating Causative Verbs from Turkish into English and vice versa.
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
Therefore the Causative Suffix possibilities 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.
| Basic Verb | Causative Form |
|---|---|
|
gülmek - to laugh ona güldüm - I laughed at him ["Gülmek" takes a Motion Towards (dative) object] bana güldü - He laughed at me |
güldürmek - to make laugh/cause to laugh onu güldürdüm - I made him laugh beni güldürdü - He made me laugh |
|
bilmek - to know onu biliyorum - I know that. |
bildirmek - to make known Mehmed' e haberi bildirdik - We made the news known to Mehmet |
|
çalışmak - to work Bugün çalışıyorum - I am working today |
çalıştırmak - to cause to work Bugün, Mehmed'e çalıştırıyorum - I am getting Mehmet to work today |
|
unutmak - to forget Çantamı unuttum - I forgot my bag |
unutturmak - to cause to forget Mehmed'e çantasını unutturduk - We've let Mehmet forget his bag. |
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.
Basic verb Stems ending in a vowel or -r form their causative by the addition of the suffix -t to produce the causative verb stem
| 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 |
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.
| 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 | geçirmek | 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 |
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) - i.e. The eggs are cooking in the pan. - which is Intransitive as it has no object.
Pişirmek - to cook something - i.e. 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.
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).
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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Active Verb | Causative Verb |
|---|---|
| görmek - to see | göstermek - to show |
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. For instance if we say:
Mutfakta yemek pişiyor - The food - (the subject) - is cooking in the kitchen.
- [the food is cooking by itself]
Mehmet, mufakta yemeği pişiriyor - Mehmet - (the subject) - is cooking the food - [Causative Verb - Mehmet is cooking the food.]
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 -anlamak - to understand - Cevabı anladım - I understood the answer.
Causative Verb - anlatmak - to explain - [Lit: to cause to understand] - Cevabı anlattım - I explained the answer.
We have to realise that in English the Causative Verb is often a different verb altogether from the Active Verb whereas Turkish uses its Causative form of the Active Form.
| Active | Causative | Literal |
|---|---|---|
| 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] |
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 [ boya-t-tır-dım].
In this case we are causing a third party to act as an 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:
The Doubled 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
yaptırtılmak [yap-tır-t-ıl-mak] - to have something done
If two letters -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