Turkish Grammar › Voice
İşteş + Ettirgen + Edilgen Çatı
Reciprocal + Causative + Passive
Level B1Voice
Voice suffixes stacking up, and their unchanging order: tanış-tır-ıl-dı.
In this unit you have learned the voices one by one: reciprocal (-(I)ş), reflexive (-(I)n), causative (-DIr) and passive (-Il). Now you will meet the forms where they are used together.
When the suffixes stack up THEIR ORDER DOES NOT CHANGE: first reciprocal, then causative, last passive. Tanı-ş-tır-ıl-dı.
Knowing this order is the key to unpacking long words. Let us split «barıştırıldılar»: barış (reciprocal) + tır (causative) + ıl (passive) + dı (past) + lar (plural).
The meaning is built in the same order: first two sides do something to each other, then someone brings it about, and finally the one who brought it about is left unnamed.
In «Bizi tanıştırdılar.» the one who introduced us is unnamed but there is still a subject. In «Tanıştırıldık.» the subject has gone altogether.
Two voices can combine without the reciprocal as well. The commonest is causative + passive: «Ev boyatıldı.» — boya-t-ıl-dı. Someone had the painter do it, but who is not said.
This combination is the most familiar form of news and official language: «Yaralılar hastaneye kaldırıldı.», «Toplantı ertelendi.», «Öğrenciler sınava alındı.»
The reflexive can combine with the causative too: «Çocuk giydirildi.» — giy-dir-il-di. The child did not dress himself; someone dressed him, and who is not said.
The more suffixes there are, the longer the word, but the way of reading it never changes: start from the root, separate the suffixes in order, and add the meaning of each.
The same voice suffix can appear twice in a word. That shows one more person has come in between: «yaptırıldı» has both the one who ordered it and the one who did it, and neither is named.
You do not have to build these forms yourself in everyday speech; what matters is UNDERSTANDING them when you see them in a newspaper, an announcement or an official text.
The topic of voice ends with the next lesson; at B2 you will meet longer sentences where these forms combine with participles and converbs.
Examples
- Toplantıda bizi de tanıştırdılar.At the meeting they introduced us as well.
- Toplantıda biz de tanıştırıldık.At the meeting we too were introduced.
- Küs iki arkadaş sonunda barıştırıldı.The two friends who had fallen out were finally reconciled.
- Yaralılar hemen hastaneye kaldırıldı.The injured were taken to hospital at once.
- Geçen yaz evimiz baştan aşağı boyatıldı.Last summer our house was painted from top to bottom.