The Full Causative Paradigm | Farsi Grammar

An established Persian morphological causative is a complete verb with its own past stem, present stem, participle, and full tense–mood paradigm. From خوابیدن “sleep,” Persian has خواباندن “put to sleep”: present stem خوابان, past stem خواباند, participle خوابانده. Once these stems are known, ordinary Persian conjugation applies regularly.

The hard part is lexical, not inflectional. The suffix is not freely available for every desired meaning, and a derived causative may develop specialized valency or meaning. This page uses established خواباندن to expose the paradigm, then shows what can and cannot be generalized.

Derivation creates a new two-stem verb

The causative adds ـان to the base present stem and normally forms a short infinitive in ـاندن. A long variant in ـانیدن has past stem ـانید but usually the same present stem in ـان.

Layer	Base verb	Causative verb
infinitive	خوابیدن	خواباندن
present stem	خواب	خوابان
past stem	خوابید	خواباند
past participle	خوابیده	خوابانده

بچه بعد از شنیدن قصه خوابید.

bachche ba'd az shenidan-e qesse khâbid.

The child fell asleep after hearing the story. (neutral standard; intransitive base)

پدر بعد از خواندن قصه بچه را خواباند.

pedar ba'd az khândan-e qesse bachche râ khâbând.

The father put the child to sleep after reading the story. (neutral standard; causative adds a causer)

The old intransitive subject بچه becomes the causative object and can take را. The new subject پدر is the causer. English may use a separate lexical verb (put to sleep) or make + verb; Persian can encode the added causer inside one established verb.

For the derivational pattern and short–long variants, see Causative in اندن and انیدن.

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After derivation, stop conjugating the base خوابیدن. All finite forms come from causative stems خوابان / خواباند; switching back to خواب / خوابید removes the causer.

Four six-person series

The following table shows the forms learners need most. Prefixes select aspect or mood; endings remain the ordinary personal endings.

Person	Simple past	Present indicative	Present subjunctive	Present perfect
I	خواباندم	می‌خوابانم	بخوابانم	خوابانده‌ام
you singular	خواباندی	می‌خوابانی	بخوابانی	خوابانده‌ای
he/she	خواباند	می‌خواباند	بخواباند	خوابانده است
we	خواباندیم	می‌خوابانیم	بخوابانیم	خوابانده‌ایم
you plural/polite	خواباندید	می‌خوابانید	بخوابانید	خوابانده‌اید
they	خواباندند	می‌خوابانند	بخوابانند	خوابانده‌اند

امشب من بچه‌ها را می‌خوابانم و تو ظرف‌ها را بشوی.

emshab man bachche-hâ râ mi-khâbânam-o to zarf-hâ râ be-shuy.

Tonight I'll put the children to bed, and you wash the dishes. (neutral conversation; present used for planned future)

بهتر است نوزاد را پیش از رسیدن مهمان‌ها بخوابانید.

behtar ast nowzâd râ pish az residan-e mehmân-hâ be-khâbânid.

It is better to put the baby to sleep before the guests arrive. (careful spoken standard; polite/plural subjunctive)

پرستار بیمار را روی تخت خوابانده است.

parastâr bimâr râ ru-ye takht khâbânde ast.

The nurse has laid the patient on the bed. (neutral standard; present perfect)

Negation follows the same series: نخواباندم “I did not put to sleep,” نمی‌خوابانم “I do not put to sleep,” نخوابانم “that I not put to sleep,” and نخوابانده‌ام “I have not put to sleep.” Past/perfect negation attaches to the causative stem, not the base verb.

Imperative and prohibition

The second-singular imperative is بخوابان and the polite/plural imperative بخوابانید. Negative commands replace بـ with نـ: نخوابان، نخوابانید.

بچه را روی این مبل نخوابان؛ اتاقش آرام‌تر است.

bachche râ ru-ye in mobl na-khâbân; otâq-ash ârâm-tar ast.

Don't put the child to sleep on this sofa; their room is quieter. (neutral conversation; negative imperative)

بیمار را به‌آرامی روی پهلوی چپ بخوابانید.

bimâr râ be-ârâmi ru-ye pahlu-ye chap be-khâbânid.

Lay the patient gently on their left side. (formal instruction; polite imperative)

The causative object remains marked by را when specific. The command ending identifies the addressee-causer, not the patient.

Future forms

Formal future uses an agreeing خواستن auxiliary plus short infinitive/past stem خواباند.

Person	Future	Person	Future
I	خواهم خواباند	we	خواهیم خواباند
you singular	خواهی خواباند	you plural/polite	خواهید خواباند
he/she	خواهد خواباند	they	خواهند خواباند

نگران نباشید؛ پرستار کودک را در اتاق کناری خواهد خواباند.

negarân na-bâshid; parastâr kudak râ dar otâq-e kenâri khâhad khâbând.

Do not worry; the nurse will lay the child down in the next room. (formal/careful future)

In ordinary Tehran conversation, the present often expresses this planned future: الان می‌خوابونمش “I'll put them to bed now.” The synthetic future remains productive but stylistically more formal.

Passive causative

Because the derived causative is transitive, its patient can be promoted in a passive. Keep causative participle خوابانده and conjugate passive شدن.

Category	Passive causative
present	خوابانده می‌شود
simple past	خوابانده شد
present perfect	خوابانده شده است
future	خوابانده خواهد شد
subjunctive	خوابانده شود

بیماران پیش از معاینه روی تخت خوابانده شدند.

bimârân pish az mo'âyene ru-ye takht khâbânde shodand.

The patients were laid on beds before examination. (formal clinical register; passive causative with human plural agreement)

This stack has two derivational layers but remains transparent: خوابانده says that someone caused lying/sleeping; شدند suppresses those causers and agrees with the affected patients.

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A passive causative is not the original intransitive. بیمار خوابید says the patient lay down; بیمار خوابانده شد presents someone causing that posture while leaving the causer unexpressed.

Valency beyond an intransitive base

With an intransitive base, the old subject normally becomes direct object. Causatives related to transitive events have less predictable frames. Established خوراندن “feed/administer” often marks the medicine as direct object and the recipient with به. فهماندن can mark the message as direct object and the understander with به.

پزشک این دارو را به بیمار خوراند.

pezeshk in dâru râ be bimâr khorând.

The doctor administered this medicine to the patient. (formal-neutral; causative with direct object and به recipient)

معلم تفاوت دو ساخت را با یک مثال به ما فهماند.

mo'allem tafâvot-e do sâkht râ bâ yek mesâl be mâ fahmând.

The teacher made us understand the difference between the two constructions with one example. (neutral standard; lexical valency of فهماندن)

Do not infer complement structure from the suffix alone. Learn the established causative with its objects and prepositions.

Productivity and lexical restrictions

The pattern is only partly productive in contemporary Iranian Persian. Common forms such as رساندن، ترساندن، جوشاندن، چسباندن، خنداندن are secure. Others are lexicalized: رساندن usually means “deliver,” and نشاندن “seat/plant” is not transparently predicted from modern present stem نشین.

For an unattested causative, Persian normally uses باعث شدن که “cause that” or وادار کردن به “compel to.” Coining a new ـاندن verb may be interpretable but still sound nonnative.

این تصمیم کارکنان را وادار کرد تا پایان روز بمانند.

in tasmim kârkonân râ vâdâr kard tâ pâyân-e ruz be-mânand.

This decision forced the employees to stay until the end of the day. (neutral standard; analytic causation where no morphological causative is licensed)

Tehran speech (informal, regional: Tehran) regularly changes ـان to ـون in common causatives: خوابوند، می‌خوابونه. These are systematic spoken forms, not standard written stems.

— بچه رو خوابوندی؟ — هنوز نه، الان می‌خوابونمش.

— bachche ro khâbundi? — hanuz na, alân mi-khâbunam-esh.

— Did you put the child to bed? — Not yet; I'll put them down now. (informal, regional: Tehran)

Common Mistakes

1. Using the noncausative present stem with an object

❌ من بچه را می‌خوابم.

Incorrect — می‌خوابم means ‘I sleep’; transitive ‘put the child to sleep’ needs causative stem خوابان.

✅ من نوزاد را هر شب ساعت هشت می‌خوابانم.

man nowzâd râ har shab sâ'at-e hasht mi-khâbânam.

I put the baby to sleep at eight every night.

2. Deriving the causative from the base past stem

❌ پرستار بیمار را خوابیداند.

Incorrect — خواباندن is built from present stem خواب, not past stem خوابید.

✅ پرستار بیمار خسته را روی تخت خواباند.

parastâr bimâr-e khaste râ ru-ye takht khâbând.

The nurse laid the tired patient on the bed.

3. Combining imperfective and subjunctive prefixes

❌ بهتر است بچه را می‌بخوابانید.

Incorrect — this subjunctive requires بخوابانید, without می‌.

✅ بهتر است بچه را در اتاق آرام‌تری بخوابانید.

behtar ast bachche râ dar otâq-e ârâm-tari be-khâbânid.

It is better to put the child to sleep in a quieter room.

4. Omitting participial ه in a passive causative

❌ بیمار روی تخت خواباند شد.

Incorrect — passive شدن follows causative participle خوابانده, not past stem خواباند.

✅ بیمار پیش از شروع آزمایش روی تخت خوابانده شد.

bimâr pish az shoru'-e âzmâyesh ru-ye takht khâbânde shod.

The patient was laid on the bed before the test began.

5. Inventing a causative where Persian uses an analytic construction

❌ رئیس همه را صبراند.

Incorrect lexical coinage — modern Persian does not normally derive a causative from صبر کردن this way.

✅ رئیس همه را وادار کرد بیرون اتاق منتظر بمانند.

ra'is hame râ vâdâr kard birun-e otâq montazer be-mânand.

The boss made everyone wait outside the room.

Key Takeaways

An established causative has its own present stem in ـان, past stem in ـاند/ـانید, and participle in ـانده/ـانیده.
Apply ordinary prefixes and endings to those causative stems: می‌خوابانم، بخوابانم، نخوابان، خوابانده‌ام.
Formal future uses خواهد خواباند; passive causative uses خوابانده + شدن.
The causative adds a causer, but the causee and other objects follow each verb's lexical valency.
Do not coin causatives freely; established vocabulary and analytic alternatives determine natural modern usage.

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