Hindi often turns an event into a caused event by deriving a new verb stem: बनना “become/be made” → बनाना “make,” पढ़ना “read/study” → पढ़ाना “teach,” सोना “sleep” → सुलाना “put to sleep.” The traditional label direct causative in -ā- reflects the added long-vowel morphology and the tendency for the causer to participate in or closely control the caused event.
The label is useful, but the forms are not generated by blindly inserting आ. Stem vowels and consonants may change, and many common causatives have lexicalized meanings. The broader family contrasts with indirect causatives in -vā-, which more readily present causation through an intermediary or arrangement.
What causativization changes
A causative introduces a causer and recasts the original participant as an affected or caused participant.
बच्चा सो गया।
baccā so gayā.
The child fell asleep.
माँ ने बच्चे को सुला दिया।
mā̃ ne bacce ko sulā diyā.
The mother put the child to sleep.
In the first sentence, the child undergoes the event of sleeping. In the second, माँ initiates it and बच्चे को is the affected participant. The derived stem is सुला-, and perfective transitive syntax adds ने to the causer.
The same increase in valency can apply to an inanimate result:
कमरे की बत्ती जल गई।
kamre kī battī jal gaī.
The room light came on.
रीना ने कमरे की बत्ती जला दी।
rīnā ne kamre kī battī jalā dī.
Rina turned on the room light.
Here बत्ती controls feminine गई in the intransitive and feminine दी in the perfective causative compound. English uses an unrelated alternation (“come on/turn on”), while Hindi exposes the causal relationship in the verb family.
Productive families—and the honest irregularity
Some pairs show a transparent long -ā-, but others contain inherited or lexical stem alternations. These must be learned as families.
| Base | Direct causative | Core contrast |
|---|---|---|
| बनना bannā | बनाना banānā | be made/become → make |
| गिरना girnā | गिराना girānā | fall → cause to fall/drop |
| चलना calnā | चलाना calānā | move/work → drive/operate |
| पढ़ना paṛhnā | पढ़ाना paṛhānā | study/read → teach |
| सीखना sīkhnā | सिखाना sikhānā | learn → teach |
| सोना sonā | सुलाना sulānā | sleep → put to sleep |
| बैठना baiṭhnā | बिठाना biṭhānā | sit → seat |
| खाना khānā | खिलाना khilānā | eat → feed |
| पीना pīnā | पिलाना pilānā | drink → give to drink |
| देखना dekhnā | दिखाना dikhānā | see → show |
There is no reliable shortcut that derives सुलाना, बिठाना, खिलाना, and दिखाना from spelling alone. Learn each high-frequency set as a unit. Later pages catalogue irregular families; this page focuses on what the derived verb does once its stem is known.
The causative is a normal conjugating stem
Once formed, the causative takes the same habitual, progressive, perfective, future, imperative, and subjunctive layers as other verbs. With habitual जगाना, the causer controls agreement:
| Causer | Habitual causative | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| राहुल | राहुल बच्चे को जगाता है | masculine singular |
| रीना | रीना बच्चे को जगाती है | feminine singular |
| राहुल और अमित | राहुल और अमित बच्चे को जगाते हैं | masculine plural |
| रीना और सीमा | रीना और सीमा बच्चे को जगाती हैं | feminine plural |
The gender of बच्चे को does not control any of these forms because the caused participant is को-marked and the clause is nonperfective.
हमारी पड़ोसन बच्चों को गणित पढ़ाती है।
hamārī paṛosan baccoṃ ko gaṇit paṛhātī hai.
Our neighbor teaches the children mathematics.
कृपया बच्चे को अभी मत जगाइए।
kripyā bacce ko abhī mat jagāie.
Please don't wake the child yet. (respectful)
क्या यह बटन मशीन चलाता है?
kyā yah baṭan maśīn calātā hai?
Does this button start the machine?
The question shows that a causer need not be human: masculine बटन controls चलाता है. Causation describes event structure, not necessarily intention.
Perfective agreement and ने
In a perfective transitive causative, the causer normally takes ने. An unmarked object can then control agreement; if every potential controller is oblique, the predicate defaults to masculine singular.
रीना ने गाड़ी नहीं चलाई।
rīnā ne gāṛī nahīṃ calāī.
Rina did not drive the car.
क्या अमित ने सारे पंखे चलाए?
kyā amit ne sāre paṅkhe calāe?
Did Amit turn on all the fans?
माँ ने बच्ची को सुलाया।
mā̃ ne baccī ko sulāyā.
The mother put the girl to sleep.
In the first two sentences, unmarked feminine गाड़ी and masculine plural पंखे control चलाई and चलाए. In the third, बच्ची को cannot control agreement, so सुलाया is default masculine singular; the child's natural gender is irrelevant to that default.
With both a caused participant and a theme, an unmarked theme may control agreement:
दादी ने बच्चों को एक मज़ेदार कहानी सुनाई।
dādī ne baccoṃ ko ek mazedār kahānī sunāī.
Grandmother told the children an amusing story.
Feminine कहानी controls सुनाई. बच्चों को is the audience/affected participant, not the agreement controller.
Direct does not mean forceful
“Direct” describes the closeness of the causal chain, not the causer's attitude. Feeding a child, seating a guest, showing a photograph, and teaching a class can all be helpful, gentle actions.
नर्स ने मरीज़ को धीरे-धीरे पानी पिलाया।
nars ne marīz ko dhīre-dhīre pānī pilāyā.
The nurse slowly gave the patient water to drink.
मुझे वह तस्वीर फिर से दिखाओ।
mujhe vah tasvīr phir se dikhāo.
Show me that picture again. (familiar)
Many causatives are partly lexicalized. पढ़ाना usually means “teach,” not a moment-by-moment act of forcing someone to read. चलाना means “drive/operate,” दिखाना “show,” सुनाना “tell/recite to someone,” and समझाना “explain.” Their argument patterns and collocations must be learned with their meanings.
Layers of tense, aspect, and modality
The causative marker belongs inside the lexical stem; outer morphology provides viewpoint and time.
अध्यापक नई कविता समझा रहे हैं।
adhyāpak naī kavitā samjhā rahe haiṃ.
The teacher is explaining the new poem. (honorific or plural)
कल मैं आपको पूरा नक्शा दिखाऊँगी।
kal maĩ āpko pūrā nakśā dikhāū̃gī.
Tomorrow I'll show you the complete map. (female speaker)
In समझा रहे हैं, the causative stem समझा- is followed by progressive रह- and the present auxiliary. In दिखाऊँगी, दिखा- takes first-person future morphology and feminine -गी. English may use “explain” or “show” as single lexical verbs, but Hindi still organizes these forms as lexical causative stem plus TAM layers.
Common Mistakes
Attaching causative material mechanically
❌ माँ हर सुबह बच्चे को खानाती है।
Incorrect — the causative of खाना is the irregular family member खिलाना.
✅ माँ हर सुबह बच्चे को खाना खिलाती है।
mā̃ har subah bacce ko khānā khilātī hai.
The mother feeds the child every morning.
Agreeing with the caused participant instead of the causer
❌ रीना बच्चों को हिंदी पढ़ाते हैं।
Incorrect — singular feminine रीना controls this habitual predicate.
✅ रीना बच्चों को हिंदी पढ़ाती है।
rīnā baccoṃ ko hindī paṛhātī hai.
Rina teaches the children Hindi.
Omitting ने in a canonical perfective
❌ माँ बच्चे को जल्दी सुलाया।
Incorrect in the canonical perfective transitive pattern — mark the causer with ने.
✅ माँ ने बच्चे को जल्दी सुलाया।
mā̃ ne bacce ko jaldī sulāyā.
The mother put the child to sleep early.
Agreeing with a को-marked feminine participant
❌ माँ ने बच्ची को सुलाई।
Incorrect — बच्ची को is oblique and cannot control agreement here.
✅ माँ ने बच्ची को सुलाया।
mā̃ ne baccī ko sulāyā.
The mother put the girl to sleep.
Using an infinitive as a finite habitual
❌ रीना हर रात बच्चे को सुलाना।
Incorrect as a finite routine statement — add habitual agreement and the auxiliary.
✅ रीना हर रात बच्चे को सुलाती है।
rīnā har rāt bacce ko sulātī hai.
Rina puts the child to sleep every night.
Key Takeaways
- Direct causatives add a causer and commonly encode close participation or control.
- Learn causative families, not a mechanical spelling rule: सोना–सुलाना, बैठना–बिठाना, खाना–खिलाना.
- The causative stem takes ordinary aspect, tense, mood, polarity, and auxiliary layers.
- A nonperfective causative agrees with its causer; a perfective causative follows ordinary ने and object-agreement rules.
- “Direct” is an event-structure label, not a claim that the action is harsh or coercive.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- 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.
- Causative argument markingC1 — Assign ने, को, and से to the causer, affected participant, intermediary, and patient in Hindi causative clauses.
- करना कराना करवाना contrastsB2 — Distinguish doing an action, causing it directly, and arranging for it through करना, कराना, and करवाना.
- Intransitive-transitive-causative setsB2 — Learn Hindi verb families that contrast a spontaneous event, a caused transitive event, and an indirectly arranged causative event.
- Lexical irregular causativesC1 — Master high-frequency Hindi causatives whose stems change unpredictably, including खिलाना, पिलाना, सुलाना, बिठाना, दिखाना, and सिखाना.