Turkish Causative Verbs: the -dır and -t Suffixes
How the Turkish causative works — the productive -dır suffix with its four-way harmony and d/t voicing, the short -t that polysyllabic vowel-, l- and r-final stems take, the dative on the person made to act, stacking the suffix, and the small fixed set that takes -ir, -ar or -it.
Ekle ·
The causative recasts a verb so its subject makes, has, or gets someone else carry out the action rather than performing it directly.
What the causative does
Every verb names an action and a doer. The causative adds a second participant on top of that doer — a causer who sets the action going without carrying it out. yap "do, make" becomes yaptırdım "I had it done", and öl "die" becomes öldürmek "to kill", literally "to make die".
Where English reaches for a second verb — make, have, get, cause — Turkish adds a suffix to the verb stem. Its productive shape is -dır, and a large class of stems takes a shorter -t in its place. The rest of this page is which shape goes where, and how to name the person you set to work.
The default suffix and its harmony
The productive causative attaches to most verb stems. Its vowel harmonises four ways with the stem's last vowel, and it begins with d after a voiced sound, turning to t after a voiceless one. So yaz "write" takes the voiced -dır to give yazdırdı "he had it written", while yap, ending in a voiceless p, takes -tır in yaptırdım.
| Last stem vowel | After a voiced sound | After a voiceless consonant |
|---|---|---|
| a · ı | -dır | -tır |
| e · i | -dir | -tir |
| o · u | -dur | -tur |
| ö · ü | -dür | -tür |
The consonants that force the voiceless start are p ç t k f h s ş; every other sound, and every vowel, keeps the d. A rounded front stem shows the harmony at its fullest: öldürdü "he killed" is öl plus the voiced -dür, the ö/ü row of the grid.
Stems that take the short suffix
A large, regular class takes a bare -t in place of the fuller suffix. The trigger is the shape of the stem: verbs of more than one syllable that end in a vowel, or in l or r. oku "read" gives okut, temizle "clean" gives temizlet, kısal "grow short" gives kısalt, and otur "sit" gives oturt.
So okuttu "he taught" is oku plus -t plus the past ending, temizlettim "I had it cleaned" is temizle plus -t, and kısalttı "he shortened it" carries the same -t on the l-final kısal. Forcing the fuller suffix onto these stems yields the wrong okudur, temizledir and kısaldır.
Length is what counts: the -t shape wants more than one syllable. A single-syllable stem ending in l or r keeps the default suffix, which is why öl gives öldürmek and not a form in -t.
Five worked forms
Read each as "had it done" — the subject arranges the action and someone else carries it out.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| yaptırdım | yap + tır + dı + m | I had it made / I got it done |
| yazdırdı | yaz + dır + dı | he had it written |
| temizlettim | temizle + t + ti + m | I had it cleaned |
| okuttu | oku + t + tu | he taught / had someone read |
| kısalttı | kısal + t + tı | he shortened it |
Doing it yourself versus having it done
The plain verb says you did the thing; the causative says you arranged for it. yaptım is "I made it" with your own hands, where yaptırdım is "I had it made" by someone else. In the same way yazdım "I wrote it" puts the pen in your hand, and yazdırdı "he had it written" hands the writing to another.
- yaptım — "I made it". You performed the action yourself.
- yaptırdım — "I had it made". You caused someone else to.
Naming who was made to act
When you name the person made to act — the causee — that person goes in the dative. Ali'ye yazdırdım is "I had Ali write it", with Ali'ye "to Ali" marking the one set to work. The dative here does the same job it does after a verb of giving: it points to the one the action is aimed at.
Naming the causee is optional. Leave it out and yazdırdı on its own is still "he had it written", the doer simply unnamed. Name them, and the dative is how Turkish slots them in.
Stacking the suffix
The causative can apply more than once. A second causative on an already-causative stem lengthens the chain of agency: yaptım "I made it", then yaptırdım "I had it made", then yaptırttım "I had it made through someone". The stem yaptırt is the causative yaptırmak with one more -t on top, and the past ending closes the word.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| yaptırttım | yap + tır + t + tı + m | I had it made (through someone) |
A fixed set of short forms
A small, closed set of common verbs — around thirty, most of them single-syllable — takes an older, lexically fixed shape in -ir, -ar or -it where the productive suffix would apply. Nothing in the sound of the verb predicts membership; the set is learned by heart. piş "be cooked" is one: it takes -ir to give pişirdim "I cooked it".
- pişirdim — "I cooked it", from piş with -ir.
- artır — "increase, raise".
- çıkar — "take out, extract".
- korkut — "frighten", one of the -it forms.
- düşür — "drop, let fall".
Because the set is memorised and not derived, reaching for the productive suffix here gives the wrong piştir where the fixed -ir of pişirdim is required.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| pişirdim | piş + ir + di + m | I cooked it |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Turkish causative?
- It is a suffix that adds a causer to the verb: the subject makes, has, or gets someone else do the action rather than doing it. yap "do" becomes yaptırdım "I had it done", and öl "die" becomes öldürmek "to kill", literally "to make die". Turkish builds with one suffix what English builds with an extra verb like make or have.
- When does the causative use -t instead of the default suffix?
- A stem of more than one syllable that ends in a vowel, or in l or r, takes the short -t: oku gives okut, temizle gives temizlet, kısal gives kısalt. A single-syllable l or r stem keeps the default suffix, so öl gives öldürmek, not a form in -t.
- How do you say who was made to do the action?
- The person made to act — the causee — goes in the dative. Ali'ye yazdırdım is "I had Ali write it", where Ali'ye "to Ali" marks the one set to work. Leave the causee out and yazdırdı on its own still means "he had it written", with the doer unnamed.
- Can the Turkish causative be used twice?
- Yes. A second causative stacks on the first: yaptım "I made it", yaptırdım "I had it made", yaptırttım "I had it made through someone". Each layer adds another link in the chain of who caused whom to act.