Causatives can place three or even four participants in one Hindi clause: the person who causes the event, an affected person, an intermediary who performs part of it, and a theme or patient. Hindi keeps those roles apart with verb morphology, postpositions, animacy, specificity, and agreement—not with a fixed English-style word order alone.
The practical core is: the causer behaves like the subject; an affected caused participant often takes को; an intermediary in an indirect causative can take से; and an unmarked theme may control perfective agreement. The syntax is explored more formally on the causative argument structure page.
Name the roles before choosing a marker
Consider a clause with an indirect -vā- causative:
ठेकेदार ने मज़दूरों से दीवार बनवाई।
ṭhekedār ne mazdūroṃ se dīvār banvāī.
The contractor had the workers build the wall.
| Phrase | Role | Marking |
|---|---|---|
| ठेकेदार ने | causer/commissioner | ने in the perfective |
| मज़दूरों से | intermediary actors | से |
| दीवार | patient/result | unmarked |
| बनवाई | indirect causative predicate | agrees with feminine दीवार |
English puts “the contractor” and “the workers” into different clauses in the paraphrase “had the workers build.” Hindi packages the causal chain into one finite predicate. The postpositions identify how each participant enters that chain.
The causer: direct in nonperfectives, ने in the perfective
The causer is the highest subject-like argument. In habitual, progressive, future, and subjunctive clauses it is normally unmarked and controls the relevant subject agreement. In a canonical perfective transitive causative, it takes ने.
| Causer | Habitual indirect causative | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| राहुल | राहुल सहायक से फ़ॉर्म भरवाता है | masculine singular |
| रीना | रीना सहायक से फ़ॉर्म भरवाती है | feminine singular |
| राहुल और अमित | राहुल और अमित सहायक से फ़ॉर्म भरवाते हैं | masculine plural |
| रीना और सीमा | रीना और सीमा सहायक से फ़ॉर्म भरवाती हैं | feminine plural |
रीना अपने सहायक से रिपोर्ट लिखवाती है।
rīnā apne sahāyak se riporṭ likhvātī hai.
Rina has her assistant write the report.
रीना अपने सहायक से रिपोर्ट नहीं लिखवाती।
rīnā apne sahāyak se riporṭ nahīṃ likhvātī.
Rina does not have her assistant write the report.
क्या रीना अपने सहायक से रिपोर्ट लिखवाती है?
kyā rīnā apne sahāyak se riporṭ likhvātī hai?
Does Rina have her assistant write the report?
The final present auxiliary may be omitted in the negative. In all three, रीना—not feminine रिपोर्ट and not सहायक से—controls habitual लिखवाती.
In the perfective, the pattern shifts:
रीना ने अपने सहायक से रिपोर्ट लिखवाई।
rīnā ne apne sahāyak se riporṭ likhvāī.
Rina had her assistant write the report.
Now रीना ने is ergative and cannot control agreement. Unmarked feminine रिपोर्ट controls लिखवाई.
को marks an affected caused participant
With direct causatives, an animate person who undergoes or carries out the caused event commonly takes को.
कोच खिलाड़ियों को रोज़ पाँच किलोमीटर दौड़ाता है।
koc khilāṛiyoṃ ko roz pā̃c kilomīṭar dauṛātā hai.
The coach makes the players run five kilometers every day.
उसने मुझे सुबह पाँच बजे जगाया।
usne mujhe subah pā̃c baje jagāyā.
They woke me at five in the morning.
माँ ने बच्चे को कड़वी दवा पिलाई।
mā̃ ne bacce ko kaṛvī davā pilāī.
The mother gave the child the bitter medicine to drink.
In the third sentence बच्चे को is the affected drinker, while unmarked feminine दवा is the theme and controls perfective पिलाई. The English object immediately after “gave” does not predict Hindi agreement; case marking does.
The को participant is not always coerced. It may be a learner, eater, listener, sleeper, patient, or guest. को profiles affectedness, animacy, and specificity; the causative stem supplies the causal relationship.
से marks an intermediary in -vā- causatives
An indirect causative can add an animate से phrase whose action mediates the result.
मैंने रोहन से दो पत्र लिखवाए।
maĩne rohan se do patr likhvāe.
I had Rohan write two letters.
उसने मुझसे यह फ़ॉर्म भरवाया।
usne mujhse yah form bharvāyā.
They had me fill out this form.
हमने मैकेनिक से गाड़ी ठीक करवाई।
hamne maikenik se gāṛī ṭhīk karvāī.
We had the mechanic repair the car.
The से phrase never controls agreement in these examples. Masculine plural पत्र, masculine singular फ़ॉर्म, and feminine singular गाड़ी control लिखवाए, भरवाया, and करवाई respectively.
The same postposition can mark an instrument or means: मशीन से कटवाया may mean “had it cut with/by means of a machine.” Do not translate every से as an intermediary and do not translate every English “by” with से. A formal passive agent is more characteristically expressed with द्वारा, whereas causative से belongs inside the causal chain.
The same causee can alternate between को and से
The causative suffix alone does not mechanically choose a case marker. With some transitive -vā- causatives, को presents the causee as an affected, consciously involved participant, while से presents that participant more as the intermediary through whom the result is obtained. The lexical verb and the discourse context constrain which alternation is natural.
अध्यापक ने छात्र को कविता पढ़वाई।
adhyāpak ne chātr ko kavitā paṛhvāī.
The teacher had the student read the poem.
अध्यापक ने छात्र से कविता पढ़वाई।
adhyāpak ne chātr se kavitā paṛhvāī.
The teacher had the poem read by the student.
Both predicates agree with unmarked feminine कविता. The case contrast changes the construal of छात्र, not the agreement controller. Verbs of ingestion, motion, perception, and some communication verbs show especially strong lexical preferences, so treat को versus से as a meaningful alternation rather than a direct-versus-indirect-causative formula.
को and से can coexist
The affected participant and the intermediary are separate roles, so one clause can express both.
मैंने अध्यापक से बच्चे को हिंदी पढ़वाई।
maĩne adhyāpak se bacce ko hindī paṛhvāī.
I arranged for the teacher to teach the child Hindi.
माँ ने आया से बच्चे को खाना खिलवाया।
mā̃ ne āyā se bacce ko khānā khilvāyā.
The mother had the nanny feed the child.
The neutral order causer–intermediary–affected participant–theme–verb is easy to process, but Hindi can scramble these phrases for topic and focus because the markers preserve their roles. Do not interpret the nearest noun to the verb automatically as its subject.
In अध्यापक से बच्चे को हिंदी पढ़वाई, अध्यापक mediates the teaching, बच्चा is the affected learner, and हिंदी is what is taught. In आया से बच्चे को खाना खिलवाया, the nanny mediates, the child eats, and the food is the theme.
Perfective agreement follows the unmarked controller
Once ने marks the causer and से/को mark other participants, the causative perfective agrees with an available unmarked theme or patient. This yields the full gender-number contrast:
| Unmarked theme | Perfective predicate | Features |
|---|---|---|
| फ़ॉर्म | फ़ॉर्म भरवाया | masculine singular |
| रिपोर्ट | रिपोर्ट लिखवाई | feminine singular |
| दो पत्र | दो पत्र लिखवाए | masculine plural |
| चिट्ठियाँ | चिट्ठियाँ लिखवाईं | feminine plural |
प्रबंधक ने सहायक से सारी चिट्ठियाँ लिखवाईं।
prabandhak ne sahāyak se sārī ciṭṭhiyā̃ likhvāīṃ.
The manager had the assistant write all the letters.
If the patient is also को-marked, or no unmarked controller is available, default masculine singular normally appears:
प्रशिक्षक ने सहायकों से घायल खिलाड़ी को उठवाया।
praśikṣak ne sahāyakoṃ se ghāyal khilāṛī ko uṭhvāyā.
The trainer had the assistants lift the injured player.
Singular उठवाया is default because प्रशिक्षक ने, सहायकों से, and खिलाड़ी को are all oblique. The player's gender or the assistants' plurality does not control it.
Omission and interpretation
Hindi may omit a role when it is obvious. मैंने बाल कटवाए leaves the barber unspoken; उसने बच्चे को पढ़वाया leaves unspecified how or through whom the studying was brought about. Omission does not remove the semantic layer introduced by the causative stem.
Some argument patterns are lexically conventional. दिखाना “show,” समझाना “explain,” and याद दिलाना “remind” have common recipient/experiencer patterns that cannot be predicted from an English translation alone. Learn frequent verbs together with their case frames.
Common Mistakes
Marking both causer and intermediary with ने
❌ मैंने दर्ज़ी ने कमीज़ सिलवाई।
Incorrect — only the perfective causer takes ने; the intermediary takes से.
✅ मैंने दर्ज़ी से कमीज़ सिलवाई।
maĩne darzī se kamīz silvāī.
I had the tailor sew the shirt.
Letting a से phrase control perfective agreement
❌ रीना ने दर्ज़ियों से कमीज़ सिलवाए।
Incorrect — plural दर्ज़ियों से is oblique; feminine कमीज़ controls agreement.
✅ रीना ने दर्ज़ियों से कमीज़ सिलवाई।
rīnā ne darziyoṃ se kamīz silvāī.
Rina had the tailors sew the shirt.
Letting the theme control a nonperfective
❌ रीना मज़दूरों से दीवार बनवाता है।
Incorrect — in this habitual clause feminine रीना controls agreement.
✅ रीना मज़दूरों से दीवार बनवाती है।
rīnā mazdūroṃ se dīvār banvātī hai.
Rina has the workers build the wall.
Using a direct pronoun before से
❌ उसने मैं से यह काम करवाया।
Incorrect — मैं becomes मुझ- before से, and the postpositional form is written together.
✅ उसने मुझसे यह काम करवाया।
usne mujhse yah kām karvāyā.
They had me do this work.
Ignoring a को-marked participant when choosing default agreement
❌ प्रशिक्षक ने महिला को उठवाई।
Incorrect — महिला को cannot control feminine agreement here.
✅ प्रशिक्षक ने महिला को उठवाया।
praśikṣak ne mahilā ko uṭhvāyā.
The trainer had the woman lifted/helped up.
Key Takeaways
- The causer is the subject-like participant and takes ने in a canonical perfective causative.
- को commonly marks a specific, animate, affected caused participant.
- से can mark an intermediary in an -vā- causative or an instrument/means; context distinguishes the roles.
- Oblique ने/को/से phrases do not control agreement. An unmarked theme may control perfective agreement; otherwise use the default.
- Treat the causative as a layered predicate: derived lexical stem inside, aspect/tense/modality and auxiliary outside.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Direct causatives in -ā-B2 — Form and use Hindi -ā- causatives for direct, closely controlled causation while tracking lexical stem changes and ordinary agreement.
- Indirect causatives in -vā-B2 — Use Hindi -vā- causatives to present an arranged, mediated, or delegated event, with the causative stem carrying ordinary TAM and agreement.
- Causatives with ने and कोC1 — Track the causer, caused participant, theme, and agreement controller in Hindi causatives using ने, को, and से.
- Causative argument structureC1 — Map the causer, causee, intermediary, and theme in Hindi direct and indirect causative clauses.
- Perfective object agreementA2 — Make a transitive perfective agree with an eligible unmarked direct object after ने, including gender-number and auxiliary-bearing forms.
- को as differential object markerA2 — Understand how animacy, specificity, definiteness, affectedness, and verb meaning condition को on direct objects and reshape perfective agreement.