what is it?
The Turkish causative is a verb suffix that adds a causer to the situation: the subject does not perform the action directly but instead causes, makes, or has someone (or something) else perform it. The suffix attaches to the verb stem and comes before tense, aspect, and person endings. There is no separate auxiliary verb — the causative meaning is entirely encoded in the suffix. Turkish has three main allomorphs — -DIr, -t, and the irregular set -Ir / -Ar / -It — and the choice between them depends on the shape of the verb stem.
when to use it
Use the causative suffix whenever the grammatical subject causes another participant to perform an action or undergo a change of state. Three typical situations arise:
Direct causation: the causer physically brings about a result (e.g. boiling water, putting a child to sleep).
Indirect / social causation: the causer instructs or arranges for someone else to act (e.g. a manager having a report written).
Emotional causation: the causer triggers an involuntary reaction in another person (e.g. making someone laugh or cry).
The person who is caused to act (the causee) is marked with the dative case (-A) when the base verb is intransitive, and with the dative case (-A) when the base verb is transitive (the original object keeps its accusative marking). This keeps the two participants distinct.
Causatives can be stacked: a second causative suffix can follow the first to add another layer of causation (e.g. yap → yaptır → yaptırt-). This is grammatical but relatively rare; at B1 you mainly need to recognise it.
formation
Which allomorph to use is determined by the phonological shape of the verb stem. The rules below cover the vast majority of verbs you will encounter at B1.
-t — used after polysyllabic stems and after any stem ending in a vowel, -l, or -r. Examples: uyu → uyut-, kayna → kaynat-, kapat → kapat-.
-DIr — the default suffix for monosyllabic stems not listed in the irregular group. The vowel harmonises: -dır / -dir / -dur / -dür (voiced) or -tır / -tir / -tur / -tür (after voiceless consonants). Examples: yap → yaptır-, gül → güldür-, öl → öldür-.
-Ir / -Ar / -It — an irregular set of roughly 30 common monosyllabic verbs that take their own idiosyncratic forms. These must be memorised individually. Examples: düş → düşür-, çık → çıkar-, kork → korkut-.
The table below shows representative stems from each group. After the causative suffix is attached, regular tense and person endings follow as normal.
| base verb | causative stem | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| uyu- | uyut- | put to sleep |
| kayna- | kaynat- | boil (tr.) |
| gül- | güldür- | make laugh |
| yap- | yaptır- | have done |
| öl- | öldür- | kill |
| düş- | düşür- | drop / make fall |
| çık- | çıkar- | take out / make exit |
| kork- | korkut- | frighten |
Once the causative stem is formed, conjugation is identical to any other verb. For example, güldür- in the simple past: güldür-dü-n → «you made (him/her) laugh».
examples in context
common pitfalls
Using -DIr where the stem requires -t. Stems ending in a vowel, -l, or -r, and all polysyllabic stems, take -t, not -DIr. Saying *uyudurdum instead of uyuttum is a common error. When in doubt, check whether the stem ends in a vowel or a sonorant (-l, -r) — if so, reach for -t.
Forgetting to mark the causee with the dative. When the base verb is intransitive, the causee (the person made to act) must take the dative case -A. For example, «I made Ali run» is Ali'ye koşturdum, not *Ali'yi koşturdum. Omitting or mis-casing the causee produces an ungrammatical or misleading sentence.
Adding a causative suffix to verbs that already have a suppletive transitive. Some intransitive verbs have a completely separate transitive counterpart in Turkish. The verb gir- (to enter) uses sok- (to insert / put in) as its transitive equivalent — not *girdir-. Similarly, iç- (to drink) pairs with iç-ir- (to make drink), which is regular, but other pairs are suppletive and must be learnt as vocabulary items.