Turkish Causative Verbs: How to Make Someone Do Something (-dir / -t / -ir)

What is the Causative Voice? (Ettirgen Çatı)

The causative voice transforms an action so that the subject causes someone or something else to perform the action, or has something done by another person (like getting a haircut or having a car repaired).

Causative Suffix Variants:

1. -dir / -dır / -dur / -dür: Most common on consonant-ending stems:
   • bilmek (to know) → bildirmek (to notify / make known)
   • yapmak (to do) → yaptırmak (to have something done / made)
2. -t: Used after multisyllabic roots ending in a vowel or r/l:
   • temizlemek (to clean) → temizletmek (to have cleaned)
   • yıkamak (to wash) → yıkatmak (to have washed)
3. -ir / -ıt / -ar: Irregular older stems:
   • içmek (to drink) → içirmek (to make drink / feed liquids)
   • pişmek (to cook) → pişirmek (to cook food)

Real-Life Examples

• Saçımı kestirdim. = I got my hair cut (I didn’t cut it myself; I caused the barber to cut it!).
• Arabayı tamir ettirdim. = I had the car repaired.

Official TurkLogic Curriculum Reference Note

The Causative Voice (Ettirgen Çatı) is used to indicate that the subject causes someone or something else to perform the action. It means “to make someone do X,” “to have someone do X,” or “to cause X to happen.”

Suffix Formation:

This is one of the more complex areas of Turkish verb morphology, with several suffixes. The choice of suffix depends on the verb stem’s ending.

• -dir / -dır / -dur / -dür / -tir / -tır / -tur / -tür: (I-Type harmony + consonant assimilation) Very common, often used with polysyllabic stems or stems ending in -l, -n, -r. Example: gülmek (to laugh) → güldürmek (to make laugh) Example: anlamak (to understand) → anlatmak (to make understand, to explain - anla-t-mak) Example: ölmek (to die) → öldürmek (to kill)
• -t: Often used with monosyllabic stems ending in a vowel, or some polysyllabic stems ending in a vowel. Example: ara- (to call/search) → aratmak (to have someone call/search) Example: bekle- (to wait) → bekletmek (to make someone wait) Example: uyu- (to sleep) → uyutmak (to put to sleep)
• -er / -ar: (A-Type harmony) Used with some monosyllabic stems. Example: çıkmak (to go out) → çıkarmak (to take out, to make go out) Example: kopmak (to break off) → koparmak (to tear off, to make break off)
• -ir / -ır / -ur / -ür: (I-Type harmony) Used with some verb stems. Example: düşmek (to fall) → düşürmek (to drop, to make fall) Example: pişmek (to be cooked) → pişirmek (to cook something) Example: içmek (to drink) → içirmek (to make someone drink)
• -it / -ıt / -ut / -üt: (I-Type harmony) Used with some verb stems. Example: korkmak (to fear) → korkutmak (to frighten) Example: akmak (to flow) → akıtmak (to make flow)

The new causative verb is then conjugated normally.

Examples:

• Öğretmen mektubu yazdırdı. (The teacher had the letter written.) (from yazmak → yazdırmak)
• Saçımı kestirdim. (I had my hair cut.) (from kesmek → kestirmek)
• Bebeği uyuttu. (He/She put the baby to sleep.) (from uyumak → uyutmak)

Causative verbs can also be made causative again (double causative), e.g., yazdırmak (to have written) → yazdırtmak (to have someone have something written).