Turkish Grammar › Voice
Ettirgen Çatı (-DIr- / -t- / -(I)r-)
Causative Voice
Level B1Voice
States that we did not do something ourselves but had someone else do it: saçımı kestirdim.
The causative voice shows that the subject did NOT do the thing himself but HAD someone else do it. «Saçımı kestim.» — I held the scissors. «Saçımı kestirdim.» — the hairdresser cut it.
This distinction is very useful in daily life, because the causative is used whenever we receive a service: elbise diktirmek, ev boyatmak, diş çektirmek, fotoğraf çektirmek.
The causative has several suffixes, and which one appears depends on the verb. The commonest is «-DIr-»: yap-tır-mak, bil-dir-mek, gül-dür-mek, öl-dür-mek.
With multi-syllable verbs and verbs ending in a vowel, «-t-» usually appears: bekle-t-mek, temizle-t-mek, uyu-t-mak, oku-t-mak, kısal-t-mak.
Some verbs take «-(I)r-» or «-Ar-», and these are learned by heart: bit-ir-mek, doy-ur-mak, iç-ir-mek, geç-ir-mek, çık-ar-mak, kop-ar-mak.
A few verbs take «-It-»: ak-ıt-mak, kork-ut-mak, sark-ıt-mak.
There is no firm rule about which suffix appears; the common verbs are learned over time. Dictionaries list these forms as separate entries.
The second job of the causative is CAUSING something: «Bu film beni çok güldürdü.», «Annesi bebeği uyuttu.» Here there is no service, but an effect.
Its third job is making an intransitive verb transitive: «Su kaynadı.» has no object, «Suyu kaynattım.» does.
The person the work is given to is marked with «-(y)A»: «Kardeşime ekmek aldırdım.», «Öğrencilere metni okuttum.»
The suffix may appear twice; then one more person comes in between: «Evi boyattım.» (to the painter) - «Evi boyattırdım.» (I told someone, and he had the painter do it).
In the next topic you will meet the causative combined with the reciprocal voice.
Examples
- Dün kuaförde saçımı kestirdim.Yesterday I had my hair cut at the hairdresser's.
- Bu film beni çok güldürdü.This film made me laugh a lot.
- Annesi bebeği kucağında uyuttu.His mother got the baby to sleep in her arms.
- Çayı demlemek için suyu kaynattım.I boiled the water to brew the tea.
- Öğrencilere metni baştan sona okuttum.I had the students read the text from beginning to end.