Causative and Anticausative Compound Pairs | Farsi Grammar

Persian often packages a change and its external cause as two related compound predicates. گرم شدن means “become warm,” while گرم کردن means “make something warm.” The first presents the changing entity as subject; the second adds a causer and presents that same entity as object. Other lexical pairs use افتادن / انداختن, as in راه افتادن / راه انداختن “get going / set going.”

These alternations are highly productive-looking, but they remain lexical. They reveal a useful event-structure pattern; they do not license learners to replace every شدن with کردن, or every افتادن with انداختن, and expect an existing Persian verb.

One change, two argument structures

The anticausative member profiles a change without grammatically introducing an agent. The causative member adds the entity responsible for that change.

Change presented without an agent	Causer added	Core contrast
گرم شدن	گرم کردن	become warm / warm something
خاموش شدن	خاموش کردن	go out or switch off / switch something off
کم شدن	کم کردن	decrease / reduce something
شروع شدن	شروع کردن	begin / begin something
راه افتادن	راه انداختن	start moving / start or set something going
به تأخیر افتادن	به تأخیر انداختن	be delayed / delay something

سوپ روی اجاق گرم شد.

sup ru-ye ojâgh garm shod.

The soup warmed up on the stove.

مینا سوپ را برای بچه‌ها گرم کرد.

Minâ sup râ barâ-ye bachche-hâ garm kard.

Mina warmed the soup for the children.

In the first sentence, سوپ is the subject of گرم شد. The stove may be understood as the physical cause, but it is not an agent argument of the verb. In the second, مینا is the subject-causer and specific سوپ becomes a را-marked object.

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An anticausative does not claim that a change had no cause. It merely leaves an external causer outside the verb's argument structure: سوپ گرم شد can be true because someone turned on the stove.

کردن and شدن pairs

An adjective or nominal element often stays constant while the light verb changes. شدن supplies intransitive “become” structure; کردن supplies transitive “make/do” structure. Tense, aspect, negation, and agreement remain on the light verb.

هوا بعد از غروب ناگهان سرد شد.

havâ ba'd az ghorub nâgahân sard shod.

The weather suddenly became cold after sunset.

باد شبانه اتاق را خیلی سرد کرد.

bâd-e shabâne otâgh râ kheyli sard kard.

The night wind made the room very cold.

The causer need not be human. Natural forces, decisions, and events can all cause a change. What matters is the syntactic addition of a causing participant.

به‌خاطر تعمیرات، آب ساختمان چند ساعت قطع می‌شود.

be-khâter-e ta'mirât, âb-e sâkhtemân chand sâ'at ghat' mi-shavad.

Because of repairs, the building's water will be cut off for a few hours.

مدیریت آب ساختمان را از ساعت ده قطع می‌کند.

modiriyyat âb-e sâkhtemân râ az sâ'at-e dah ghat' mi-konad.

Management will shut off the building's water from ten o'clock.

Here قطع شدن can also receive a passive-like interpretation, especially because repairs imply human action. This is a real structural overlap: شدن is both a change-of-state light verb and the productive passive auxiliary. An explicit agent phrase or an active کردن clause makes agency clearer; see result state versus perfect event.

افتادن and انداختن pairs

The simple verbs افتادن “fall” and انداختن “throw, drop, cause to fall” also alternate inside established predicates. Their stems must be learned separately: افتاد / افت versus انداخت / انداز.

ماشین وسط جاده از کار افتاد.

mâshin vasat-e jâdde az kâr oftâd.

The car broke down in the middle of the road.

ریختن آب روی دستگاه آن را از کار انداخت.

rikhtan-e âb ru-ye dastgâh ân râ az kâr andâkht.

Spilling water on the device put it out of action.

The two predicates do not literally describe physical falling or throwing. Their whole lexical meanings are “cease functioning” and “disable.” This is why changing only the light verb can systematically change valency while the complete meanings remain conventional.

بالاخره موتور قدیمی راه افتاد.

bâlâkhare motor-e ghadimi râh oftâd.

The old engine finally started.

مکانیک با تعویض باتری موتور را راه انداخت.

mekânik bâ ta'viz-e bâtri motor râ râh andâkht.

The mechanic got the engine running by replacing the battery.

In ordinary conversation, راه انداختن has several related meanings: start a machine, launch an activity, organize something, or set a person on their way. Learn each conventional extension from context rather than translating انداختن as “throw.”

Aspect and negation stay on the light verb

The nonverbal element does not receive می‌ or نـ. Compare کم می‌شود / کم می‌کند and به تأخیر نمی‌افتد / به تأخیر نمی‌اندازد. Present-stem differences belong to the selected light verb.

این فیلتر مصرف برق را کم می‌کند، اما سرعت دستگاه کم نمی‌شود.

in filter masraf-e bargh râ kam mi-konad, ammâ sor'at-e dastgâh kam ne-mi-shavad.

This filter reduces electricity use, but the device's speed does not decrease.

بارش شدید پرواز را به تأخیر انداخت و جلسه دیر شروع شد.

bâresh-e shadid parvâz râ be ta'khir andâkht va jalase dir shoru' shod.

Heavy rain delayed the flight, and the meeting started late.

The last sentence contains two different events: rain causes a delay, and the meeting undergoes a later start. English can hide both behind versatile verbs such as delay and start; Persian light-verb selection exposes their argument structure.

Lexical restrictions

Some pairs are robust and extend to new contexts: باز کردن / باز شدن, تمام کردن / تمام شدن, and زیاد کردن / زیاد شدن. Others have specialized partners, and many compounds do not alternate at all. فکر کردن means “think,” but modern Persian does not use فکر شدن as its ordinary anticausative. تماس گرفتن “contact” does not acquire a causative partner by changing گرفتن to انداختن.

جلسه ساعت شش تمام شد و نگهبان چراغ‌ها را خاموش کرد.

jalase sâ'at-e shesh tamâm shod va negahbân cherâgh-hâ râ khâmush kard.

The meeting ended at six, and the guard switched off the lights.

There is no purely mechanical shortcut. Record both members when a pair exists, together with their arguments. This is complementary to morphological causatives such as خوابیدن / خواباندن, whose full inflection appears on the full causative paradigm.

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Store an alternating pair as two frames: چیزی گرم شد and کسی چیزی را گرم کرد. The frame records subject, object, and light verb together; memorizing only “گرم = warm” does not.

A short exchange

سارا گفت: «چرا دستگاه خاموش شد؟» نوید گفت: «من خاموشش نکردم؛ خودش از کار افتاد.»

Sârâ goft: «cherâ dastgâh khâmush shod?» Navid goft: «man khâmush-ash na-kardam; khod-ash az kâr oftâd.»

Sara said, “Why did the device switch off?” Navid said, “I didn't switch it off; it stopped working on its own.”

خودش strengthens the non-agentive reading: Navid denies being the causer and presents the failure as arising within the device. It does not make افتادن reflexive morphology.

Common Mistakes

Giving an anticausative a direct object

❌ آشپز سوپ را گرم شد.

Incorrect — گرم شدن is intransitive; a causer with an object requires گرم کردن.

✅ آشپز سوپ مانده را دوباره گرم کرد.

✅ âshpaz sup-e mânde râ dobâre garm kard.

The cook reheated the leftover soup.

Making کردن agree with the patient

❌ باد پنجره‌ها را باز کردند.

Incorrect — singular causer باد controls the verb; plural پنجره‌ها is the object.

✅ باد شدید همه‌ی پنجره‌ها را باز کرد.

✅ bâd-e shadid hame-ye panjare-hâ râ bâz kard.

The strong wind opened all the windows.

Using the wrong present stem in the افتادن pair

❌ ماشین هر صبح راه می‌اند.

Incorrect — راه افتادن uses present stem افت, yielding راه می‌افتد.

✅ ماشین قدیمی در هوای سرد سخت راه می‌افتد.

✅ mâshin-e ghadimi dar havâ-ye sard sakht râh mi-oftad.

The old car has trouble starting in cold weather.

Inventing an unattested alternation

❌ بعد از شنیدن خبر فکر شدم.

Incorrect — فکر شدن is not the ordinary intransitive partner of فکر کردن.

✅ بعد از شنیدن خبر مدتی به موضوع فکر کردم.

✅ ba'd az shenidan-e khabar moddati be mowzu' fekr kardam.

After hearing the news, I thought about the matter for a while.

Key Takeaways

شدن or افتادن commonly presents a change without an agent argument; کردن or انداختن adds a causer.
The changing entity is subject in the anticausative and normally object in the causative.
Put tense, می‌, negation, and agreement on the chosen light verb.
Alternation is lexical: memorize established pairs and their argument frames rather than generating them freely.

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