Causative argument structure

A Hindi causative adds a participant who causes another event to occur. The new causer becomes the highest subject-like argument; the original subject becomes a causee or intermediary; and any original object remains a theme or patient. Case marking keeps these roles distinct inside one clause. The companion causative argument-marking page supplies additional paradigms and collocations.

English often paraphrases the result with two verbs—“make the child sit,” “have the tailor sew the shirt”—but Hindi can package the causal chain into one derived predicate. That difference explains why English word order is a poor guide to Hindi ने, को, से, and agreement.

Adding a causer to an intransitive event

Begin with an intransitive clause:

Direct causative बिठाना adds the person who causes the sitting. The original subject becomes a को-marked affected participant:

The clause contains one finite causative predicate बिठाया. अध्यापिका ने is the perfective causer; बच्चे को is the specific animate causee; कुर्सी पर remains the goal/location inherited from sitting. Since every core participant is marked, बिठाया is masculine singular default.

Causativizing a transitive adds a third core role

With a transitive base, the original subject becomes the causee while the original object remains:

In the nonperfective causative, unmarked अध्यापिका controls feminine पढ़ाती है. Animate causee बच्चे को is oblique and cannot control. Unmarked कहानी remains the theme but does not override an eligible nonperfective subject.

In the perfective, the causer takes ने and the unmarked theme becomes the controller:

Feminine कहानी controls पढ़ाई. The natural gender of teacher and child is irrelevant once both are postposition-marked.

Direct and indirect causal chains

Hindi commonly distinguishes a direct causative from an indirect -वा- causative. The direct form presents the causer as closely bringing about the event; the indirect form commonly presents arrangement through another actor:

The workers are unexpressed, but -वा- preserves the arranged/intermediated causal layer. When expressed, an intermediary often takes से:

Unmarked feminine दीवार controls बनवाई across मज़दूरों से. The से phrase performs the embedded practical work but is not the finite subject.

The direct/indirect distinction is not simply “force” versus “request.” Either can describe willing or unwilling participation. Lexical convention, degree of mediation, and the speaker's construal matter; some verbs have irregular or preferred causative stems that must be learned individually.

को and से construe the causee differently

With many transitive causatives, a causee can appear with को or से. The alternation changes its role profile:

अभिनेता को presents the actor as the affected participant directed to act. अभिनेता से presents him more as the intermediary through whom the repetition is obtained. Both are oblique; masculine संवाद controls दोहरवाया, though its masculine singular form happens to look like default agreement.

Not every verb permits both markers with no change in naturalness. Feeding, showing, teaching, motion, and perception predicates have conventional frames. Treat को/से choice as lexical syntax, not a suffix-driven equation in which direct causative always means को and indirect causative always means से.

Both roles can be expressed

A sufficiently rich causal chain can contain an intermediary and a separate affected participant:

The role map is:

Masculine singular दूध controls पिलवाया. Because that form is indistinguishable from default, use a feminine theme to expose the relation:

Feminine दवा controls पिलवाई. Neither the feminine causer nor the intermediary supplies that agreement.

Agreement follows the outer clause

The causer behaves like the ordinary subject in a nonperfective clause:

Feminine रीना controls habitual सिलवाती. In the perfective, causer रीना ने is blocked and unmarked feminine कमीज़ controls:

If no eligible unmarked theme remains, default masculine singular appears:

All expressed participants bear ने, से, or को, so उठवाया is default. Agreement is calculated in the outer causative clause, not with the semantic performer of the base event.

One causative predicate, not two finite clauses

English “Rina had the tailor sew the shirt” contains a finite matrix verb plus a bare subordinate verb. Hindi रीना ने दर्ज़ी से कमीज़ सिलवाई has one finite predicate and one clause. Several diagnostics converge:

• only the causer takes finite-clause subject case ने;
• the causee/intermediary is a postpositional phrase;
• the causative verb bears the clause's aspect and agreement;
• negation normally scopes over the whole caused event.

The sentence denies that Rina arranged the sewing. It does not by itself assert that she tried but the tailor refused, nor that the tailor sewed it independently. Those readings require added clauses or context.

Focus particles select a participant without changing the case frame:

उसी दर्ज़ी से is a focused intermediary constituent; feminine कमीज़ continues to control सिलवाई.

Lexical causatives are not fully predictable

Some high-frequency causatives are irregular or lexicalized: देखना → दिखाना “show,” सोना → सुलाना “put to sleep,” खाना → खिलाना “feed,” and पीना → पिलाना “give to drink.” Their meanings and argument frames cannot always be recovered by mechanically inserting -आ-.

Feminine plural theme तस्वीरें controls दिखाईं. Learners who invent a regular form from देखना risk creating a nonexistent or differently interpreted verb.

Causatives inside complex sentences

Finite embedding creates a genuine second clause outside the causative:

Matrix मैंने सुना and embedded causative प्रबंधक ने ... सूची बनवाई calculate case and agreement independently. Complementizer कि is the boundary; सहायक से belongs inside the embedded causative, not to the hearing event.

Common Mistakes

1. Marking the intermediary with ने

2. Agreeing with an oblique causee

3. Letting the theme control a habitual

4. Omitting the animate causee marker

Key Takeaways

• A causative adds a causer above the base event and demotes the original subject to a को- or से-marked role.
• Direct causatives often profile an affected causee; indirect -वा- causatives commonly profile arrangement through an intermediary.
• In nonperfectives the unmarked causer controls agreement; in perfectives an eligible unmarked theme may control after the causer takes ने.
• If every participant is oblique, the causative predicate defaults to masculine singular.
• A derived causative is one finite clause; an outer कि complement creates the separate clause boundary.