Causative in اندن and انیدن | Farsi Grammar

In a common Persian pattern, a causative verb is derived by adding ـاندن or ـانیدن to a present stem. Thus خوابیدن “sleep” has causative خواباندن “put to sleep”; رسیدن “arrive” has رساندن “deliver”; and فهمیدن “understand” has فهماندن / فهمانیدن “make understand.” The derived verb adds a causer and is transitive.

The pattern is recognizable, but it is not a license to invent a causative from every verb. Modern Iranian Persian preserves many lexicalized members of this family and creates some new uses, yet often prefers a compound expression such as وادار کردن “compel” or باعث شدن که “cause that.” Learn established causatives as vocabulary.

How the two stems are built

The causative base ends in ـان. Shorter ـاندن supplies past stem ـاند; longer ـانیدن supplies past stem ـانید. Both have a present stem in ـان. This extends the stem logic introduced on Past-Stem Formation Patterns.

Base verb	Base present stem	Causative infinitive	Causative present / past stem
خوابیدن	خواب	خواباندن	خوابان / خواباند
رسیدن	رس	رساندن	رسان / رساند
ترسیدن	ترس	ترساندن	ترسان / ترساند
فهمیدن	فهم	فهمانیدن	فهمان / فهمانید

بالاخره بچه را ساعت نه خواباندم.

bâlâkhare bachche râ sâ'at-e noh khâbândam.

I finally put the child to sleep at nine. (neutral standard; past stem خواباند)

هر شب اول بچه‌ها را می‌خوابانیم و بعد فیلم می‌بینیم.

har shab avval bachche-hâ râ mi-khâbânim va ba'd film mi-binim.

Every night we put the children to bed first and then watch a film. (neutral conversation; present stem خوابان)

پیک بسته را پیش از ظهر به دفتر رساند.

peyk baste râ pish az zohr be daftar rasând.

The courier delivered the package to the office before noon. (neutral standard; رساندن)

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Once a causative infinitive is established, conjugation is regular: remove final ن for its past stem, and use its ـان stem in present forms. Do not return to the original noncausative stem while conjugating.

The new causer and the old participant

With an intransitive base, the original subject typically becomes the object of the causative. Compare بچه خوابید with مادر بچه را خواباند:

بچه بعد از ناهار خوابید.

bachche ba'd az nâhâr khâbid.

The child fell asleep after lunch. (neutral standard; intransitive base)

مادر بچه را در اتاق خودش خواباند.

mâdar bachche râ dar otâq-e khod-ash khâbând.

The mother put the child to sleep in her own room. (neutral standard; causative)

The causative subject is the causer, not necessarily the hands-on agent. این خبر همه را ترساند means that the news caused fear; no intentional human action is required.

صدای ناگهانی پرنده‌ها را ترساند.

sedâ-ye nâgahâni parande-hâ râ tarsând.

The sudden noise frightened the birds. (neutral standard; nonhuman causer)

حرف‌هایش همه‌ی ما را خنداند.

harf-hâ-yash hame-ye mâ râ khandând.

What he said made all of us laugh. (neutral conversation; خنداندن)

English often uses separate verbs (sleep/put to sleep) or make + verb. Persian packages the causal relation into one derived verb when that verb is lexically established.

Causatives from already transitive verbs

Some causatives derive from verbs that already take an object. They add a causer, while the person induced to act may appear in a prepositional phrase or be understood from context. خوراندن can mean “feed/administer”: the thing consumed is the direct object and the recipient is commonly introduced with به.

پرستار دارو را به بیمار خوراند.

parastâr dâru râ be bimâr khorând.

The nurse administered the medicine to the patient. (formal-neutral; خوراندن)

مربی بازیکنان را دور زمین دواند.

morabbi bâzikonân râ dowr-e zamin davând.

The coach made the players run around the field. (neutral standard; دواندن)

Argument structure is lexical: learners must observe whether an established causative takes a direct object, a به phrase, or both. The suffix alone does not determine every complement.

Short and long variants

Pairs such as فهماندن / فهمانیدن، خواباندن / خوابانیدن، رساندن / رسانیدن coexist. The short ـاندن forms are generally the neutral everyday choices in contemporary Iranian Persian. Long ـانیدن variants are valid but tend to be more formal, literary, or lexicographic, and their frequency differs verb by verb.

با یک مثال ساده منظورش را به من فهماند.

bâ yek mesâl-e sâde manzur-ash râ be man fahmând.

He made me understand his point with a simple example. (neutral standard; common short form فهماندن)

نویسنده مفهوم دشوار را با تمثیلی روشن فهمانید.

nevisande mafhum-e doshvâr râ bâ tamsili rowshan fahmânid.

The author conveyed the difficult concept through a clear analogy. (formal/literary; long form فهمانیدن)

Do not alternate the past stems inside one paradigm. If the lexical entry is فهماندن, its past is فهماند; if it is فهمانیدن, its past is فهمانید. Their shared present stem can conceal that distinction.

Lexicalization and meaning drift

Several common causatives have meanings broader than a transparent “make X do Y” paraphrase. رساندن routinely means “deliver”; گذراندن means “spend/pass” time or complete a course; نشاندن means “seat,” “plant,” or cause something to settle; چرخاندن can mean “turn,” “rotate,” or manage an operation.

Not every established member is synchronically transparent. In particular, نشاندن “seat” must be learned beside نشستن “sit”: its نشان stem is not obtained by simply adding ـان to modern present stem نشین.

سه هفته‌ی آخر تابستان را در روستا گذراندیم.

se hafte-ye âkhar-e tâbestân râ dar rustâ gozarândim.

We spent the last three weeks of summer in the village. (neutral standard; lexicalized گذراندن)

مهمان‌ها را کنار پنجره نشاندند.

mehmân-hâ râ kenâr-e panjare neshândand.

They seated the guests beside the window. (neutral standard; lexical نشاندن)

These meanings must be learned from real usage, not reconstructed anew each time from the base verb.

The pattern is not fully productive

Persian cannot freely attach ـاندن to any new verb and guarantee an acceptable modern form. Even where a derived word is imaginable, speakers may strongly prefer وادار کردن به for coercion, باعث شدن که for general causation, or a familiar کردن/شدن pair.

این تغییر باعث شد مشتری‌ها بیشتر صبر کنند.

in taghyir bâ'es shod moshtari-hâ bishtar sabr konand.

This change caused customers to wait longer. (neutral standard; analytic causation preferred)

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Use a morphological causative only when you have learned that verb as an established lexical item. For a new causal meaning, an analytic construction is safer and often more natural.

Common Mistakes

1. Building the causative from the past stem

❌ مادر بچه را خوابیداند.

Incorrect — causative خواباندن is based on present stem خواب, not past stem خوابید.

✅ مادر بچه را روی مبل خواباند.

mâdar bachche râ ru-ye mobl khâbând.

The mother put the child to sleep on the sofa.

2. Using the base present stem in a causative present

❌ این فیلم بچه‌ها را می‌ترسد.

Incorrect for 'frightens' — causative ترساندن uses present stem ترسان.

✅ این صحنه بعضی از بچه‌ها را می‌ترساند.

in sahne ba'zi az bachche-hâ râ mi-tarsânad.

This scene frightens some children.

3. Mismatching the past ending with the subject

❌ راهنما موضوع را فهماندید.

Incorrect — singular subject راهنما requires third-person singular فهماند, not second-person plural فهماندید.

✅ راهنما موضوع را با یک نمودار فهماند.

râhnamâ mowzu' râ bâ yek nemudâr fahmând.

The guide explained the point with a diagram.

4. Inventing a causative without checking usage

❌ مدیر کارمندها را صبراند.

Incorrect lexical coinage — modern Persian does not normally causativize صبر کردن this way.

✅ مدیر کارمندها را وادار کرد بیشتر صبر کنند.

modir kârmand-hâ râ vâdâr kard bishtar sabr konand.

The manager made the employees wait longer.

Key Takeaways

Established causatives add ـان to a base present stem and form infinitives in ـاندن or ـانیدن.
Short forms have past stem ـاند; long forms have past stem ـانید; both use present ـان.
An intransitive subject commonly becomes the causative object, while a new causer becomes subject.
Many causatives are lexicalized and have specialized meanings.
The pattern is only partly productive; use established words or an analytic causal construction.

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