Hindi -vā- causatives commonly present a causer as arranging, commissioning, delegating, or otherwise bringing about an event through a distinct causal step: मैंने घर बनवाया “I had a house built,” हमने गाड़ी ठीक करवाई “we had the car repaired.” An intermediary may be named with से, but it need not be spoken when the service provider or actor is obvious or unimportant.
The contrast with direct causatives in -ā- is clearest in pairs such as बनाना “make/build” versus बनवाना “have built.” It is a strong tendency, not a perfect one-to-one rule for every root and every speaker.
The indirect causal chain
Compare direct participation with arranged causation:
अजय ने मेज़ बनाई।
ajay ne mez banāī.
Ajay made the table.
अजय ने बढ़ई से मेज़ बनवाई।
ajay ne baṛhaī se mez banvāī.
Ajay had the carpenter make the table.
The second sentence has three conceptual roles:
- अजय is the causer who commissions the work.
- बढ़ई से is the intermediary who carries it out.
- मेज़ is the result/patient and controls feminine perfective बनवाई.
The से phrase can be omitted:
हमने पिछले साल रसोई की मरम्मत करवाई।
hamne pichle sāl rasoī kī marammat karvāī.
We had the kitchen renovated last year.
The sentence still implies that the subject arranged for the work; it does not require the listener to identify the worker.
-ā- and -vā- are alternatives, not stacked suffixes
Traditional descriptions call -ā- the direct causative and -vā- the indirect causative. Synchronically, the two are alternative causative formations attached within the derived stem; Hindi does not normally build the indirect causative by adding -vā- after an already complete -ā- causative.
| Base/event family | Direct or lexical causative | Indirect causative |
|---|---|---|
| करना karnā | कराना karānā | करवाना karvānā |
| बनना bannā | बनाना banānā | बनवाना banvānā |
| पढ़ना paṛhnā | पढ़ाना paṛhānā | पढ़वाना paṛhvānā |
| खाना khānā | खिलाना khilānā | खिलवाना khilvānā |
| पीना pīnā | पिलाना pilānā | पिलवाना pilvānā |
| कटना / काटना kaṭnā / kāṭnā | काटना kāṭnā | कटवाना kaṭvānā |
| धुलना / धोना dhulnā / dhonā | धोना dhonā | धुलवाना dhulvānā |
The last two rows show why “insert वा into the visible transitive” is not a safe spelling algorithm: काटना → कटवाना and धोना → धुलवाना involve stem alternation. Speakers learn these as lexical families, and some less common forms vary by region or individual usage.
मैं कल बाल कटवाऊँगा।
maĩ kal bāl kaṭvāū̃gā.
I'll get my hair cut tomorrow. (male speaker)
क्या आपने आँखों की जाँच करवाई?
kyā āpne ā̃khoṃ kī jā̃c karvāī?
Did you have your eyes examined? (respectful)
Both are ordinary everyday service constructions, not unusually formal expressions.
A full verb stem with ordinary conjugation
Once करवा- or another indirect causative stem is formed, outer morphology supplies aspect, tense, mood, person, gender, and number.
| Causer | Habitual form | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| मैनेजर | मैनेजर काम करवाता है | masculine singular |
| रीना | रीना काम करवाती है | feminine singular |
| दो मैनेजर | दो मैनेजर काम करवाते हैं | masculine plural |
| रीना और सीमा | रीना और सीमा काम करवाती हैं | feminine plural |
रीना हर महीने दफ़्तर के कंप्यूटर साफ़ करवाती है।
rīnā har mahīne daftar ke kampyūṭar sāf karvātī hai.
Rina has the office computers cleaned every month.
हम अगले हफ़्ते पानी की टंकी साफ़ करवाएँगे।
ham agle hafte pānī kī ṭaṅkī sāf karvāẽge.
We'll have the water tank cleaned next week.
आज हम प्रिंट नहीं करवाएँगे।
āj ham priṇṭ nahīṃ karvāẽge.
We won't have it printed today.
The causative stem is inside the predicate: करवा- + habitual -त- + feminine -ī + है, or करवा- + future -एँगे. English “have something cleaned/printed” distributes the meaning across separate words; Hindi packages the causal relation into the stem and puts TAM outside it.
The intermediary with से
An animate से phrase can identify the person whose actions mediate an -vā- event. It is not the grammatical subject and does not control agreement.
प्रोफ़ेसर ने छात्रों से दो लेख लिखवाए।
profesar ne chātroṃ se do lekh likhvāe.
The professor had the students write two articles.
मैंने दर्ज़ी से यह कुर्ता सिलवाया।
maĩne darzī se yah kurtā silvāyā.
I had the tailor sew this kurta.
पिता ने प्रशिक्षक से बेटे को तैरना सिखवाया।
pitā ne praśikṣak se beṭe ko tairnā sikhvāyā.
The father had the instructor teach his son to swim.
In the last sentence, पिता ने is the causer, प्रशिक्षक से the intermediary, बेटे को the learner, and तैरना the skill taught. The construction is a single Hindi clause even though English may paraphrase it with two predicates, “had the instructor teach.”
The availability of an intermediate-actor reading is especially robust with -vā-. A से phrase can also mark an instrument or means, so semantics matters: a machine in मशीन से कटवाया is a means; a tailor in दर्ज़ी से सिलवाया is an intermediary.
Perfective agreement
Perfective indirect causatives are transitive. The causer normally takes ने, and an unmarked patient or theme can control agreement. Oblique से and को phrases do not.
हमने दो कमरे पेंट करवाए।
hamne do kamre peṇṭ karvāe.
We had two rooms painted.
उसने सारी खिड़कियाँ साफ़ करवाईं।
usne sārī khiṛkiyā̃ sāf karvāīṃ.
They had all the windows cleaned.
रीना ने बच्चों को कविता पढ़वाई।
rīnā ne baccoṃ ko kavitā paṛhvāī.
Rina had the children read the poem.
Masculine plural कमरे controls करवाए; feminine plural खिड़कियाँ controls करवाईं; feminine singular कविता controls पढ़वाई. In the last sentence बच्चों को is the affected reader group, but को blocks it from controlling agreement.
The semantic contrast has gray areas
The strongest contrast is direct performance versus arranging a service:
मैंने अपना कमरा सजाया, लेकिन पर्दे किसी और से लगवाए।
maĩne apnā kamrā sajāyā, lekin parde kisī aur se lagvāe.
I decorated my room myself, but had someone else put up the curtains.
Yet -vā- does not always prove that a named third person physically acted, and -ā- does not always prove hand-on involvement. With some roots the difference is subtle, lexicalized, or variable across speakers. Context supplies whether the causer ordered, persuaded, enabled, hired, or merely arranged the event.
Do not equate direct with “force” and indirect with “ask politely.” Either can describe coercive or cooperative causation. The morphology profiles the causal chain, not the social tone.
Common Mistakes
Stacking the two causative formations
❌ अध्यापक ने बच्चों से पाठ पढ़ानवाया।
Incorrect — standard indirect causative पढ़वाना does not stack after the full direct form पढ़ाना.
✅ अध्यापक ने बच्चों से पाठ पढ़वाया।
adhyāpak ne baccoṃ se pāṭh paṛhvāyā.
The teacher had the children read the lesson.
Giving the intermediary ergative case
❌ मैंने दर्ज़ी ने कुर्ता सिलवाया।
Incorrect — the causer takes ने; the intermediary takes से.
✅ मैंने दर्ज़ी से कुर्ता सिलवाया।
maĩne darzī se kurtā silvāyā.
I had the tailor sew the kurta.
Agreeing a habitual with the patient
❌ रीना हर महीने गाड़ी धुलवाता है।
Incorrect — feminine singular रीना controls the habitual predicate.
✅ रीना हर महीने गाड़ी धुलवाती है।
rīnā har mahīne gāṛī dhulvātī hai.
Rina has the car washed every month.
Missing feminine plural perfective agreement
❌ उसने दो कमीज़ें सिलवाया।
Incorrect — unmarked feminine plural कमीज़ें controls सिलवाईं.
✅ उसने दो कमीज़ें सिलवाईं।
usne do kamīzeṃ silvāīṃ.
They had two shirts sewn.
Leaving the infinitive as a finite routine
❌ वह हर साल घर की रंगाई करवाना।
Incorrect as a finite habitual statement — करवाना is an infinitive.
✅ वह हर साल घर की रंगाई करवाता है।
vah har sāl ghar kī raṅgāī karvātā hai.
He has the house painted every year.
Key Takeaways
- -vā- commonly presents causation as arranged, delegated, commissioned, or mediated.
- -ā- and -vā- are alternative derived formations, not normally stacked causative suffixes.
- A से phrase may name an intermediary, but the intermediary can remain unspoken.
- The derived stem takes ordinary TAM layers; nonperfectives agree with the causer, while perfectives follow ने and object-agreement rules.
- Lexical gaps and speaker variation are real, so learn frequent causative families rather than inventing forms mechanically.
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