In English, you change a verb's argument structure with separate words: "be" plus a participle for the passive ("it was written"), "have/get" plus an object for the causative ("I had it written"), "myself" for the reflexive, "each other" for the reciprocal. Turkish does all four with suffixes welded onto the verb stem, in a slot that sits between the stem and the tense. This page is the map: it shows the four voice suffixes, what each does to the sentence, and — the real payoff — how they stack in a fixed order to build forms English simply cannot say in one word.
The four voices at a glance
Each voice suffix changes who does what to whom. Here they are with one example each:
| Voice | Suffix | Base → Derived | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passive | -Il / -In / -n | yazmak → yazılmak | "write" → "be written" |
| Causative | -DIr / -t / -Ir | yıkamak → yıkatmak | "wash" → "have (someone) wash" |
| Reflexive | -In | yıkamak → yıkanmak | "wash" → "wash oneself" |
| Reciprocal | -Iş | görmek → görüşmek | "see" → "see each other / meet" |
All four live in the same morphological slot: stem + VOICE + tense + person. So yazıldı is yaz-ıl-dı ("it was written"), and yıkandım is yıka-n-dı-m ("I washed myself"). The voice suffix is never the last thing on the verb — tense and person always follow it.
Bu mektup dün yazıldı.
This letter was written yesterday.
Eve gelince hemen yıkandım.
When I got home I washed up right away.
Passive -Il / -In / -n: demote the doer
The passive removes the agent from subject position. The thing that was the object becomes the subject, and the original doer either disappears or is reintroduced with tarafından ("by"). The suffix has three shapes chosen by the stem-final sound: -Il after most consonants (yazılmak "be written", açılmak "be opened"), -In after an l-final stem (bulmak → bulunmak "be found"), and -n after a vowel (okumak → okunmak "be read"). The full rules and the powerful impersonal passive are on the passive -Il / -In / -n.
Kapı yavaşça açıldı.
The door opened slowly.
Burada Türkçe konuşulur.
Turkish is spoken here.
Causative -DIr / -t / -Ir: add a doer
The causative does the opposite of the passive: it adds an instigator. A one-participant verb gains a causer; a two-participant verb gains a third party who makes it happen. The main suffix is -DIr, but multisyllabic stems ending in a vowel, r, or l take -t instead, and a small closed set take -Ir (içmek → içirmek "make drink", ölmek → öldürmek "kill = cause to die"). So yıkamak "wash" → yıkatmak "have (something/someone) washed": Arabayı yıkattım "I had the car washed". The details and the irregular -Ir group are on the causative -DIr / -t / -Ir.
Saçımı kuaförde kestirdim.
I had my hair cut at the salon.
Çocuğa ilacını içirdim.
I got the child to take his medicine.
Reflexive -In: turn the action back on the doer
The reflexive marks that the agent acts on itself. The suffix -In turns yıkamak "wash (something)" into yıkanmak "wash oneself", and giymek "put on (a garment)" into giyinmek "get dressed". Note that this is the same -In shape that appears as one of the passive allomorphs and as the reciprocal — context and the specific verb tell them apart, which is exactly why the reflexive -In page exists to disentangle them.
Sabahları çabuk giyinirim.
I get dressed quickly in the mornings.
Aynada kendine bakıp tarandı.
She looked at herself in the mirror and combed her hair.
Reciprocal -Iş: doers act on each other
The reciprocal marks that two or more participants do the action to one another. -Iş turns görmek "see" into görüşmek "see each other / meet up", and yazmak "write" into yazışmak "correspond, write to each other". Not every verb accepts it — the set is limited — but the productive ones are extremely common in everyday Turkish. More on the reciprocal -Iş.
Uzun zamandır görüşmedik, bir kahve içelim mi?
We haven't seen each other in ages, shall we grab a coffee?
Toplantıdan sonra mesajlaştık.
We texted back and forth after the meeting.
The headline feature: voices stack
Here is what makes Turkish voice genuinely powerful. Because each voice is a suffix in a fixed slot, you can chain them, and the meaning composes left to right. The causative is the most stackable: each extra causative adds one more link in the "who makes whom" chain.
- yapmak "do/make" → yap-tır-mak yaptırmak "have it done" (I make someone do it)
- → yap-tır-t-mak yaptırtmak "have it had done" (I make someone make someone else do it)
- → yaptırttım "I had it made via someone in between"
You can also combine different voices on one stem. Take yıkamak "wash":
- yıka-n-mak yıkanmak "wash oneself" (reflexive)
- yıka-t-mak yıkatmak "have (it) washed" (causative)
- yıka-n-ıl-mak yıkanılmak "(impersonally) there was washing" (reflexive + passive)
And the order is not free — voices occupy fixed relative positions in the verb. The standard order, working outward from the stem, is reflexive/reciprocal → causative → passive. You build inward-to-outward, and the rightmost voice is the one that applies last.
Bu işi bana yaptırma, sen yap.
Don't make me do this job, you do it.
Çamaşırlar makinede yıkanır.
The laundry gets washed in the machine.
Each voice suffix harmonizes and can change consonants
Every voice suffix obeys vowel harmony, and several trigger consonant changes at the stem boundary. The passive -Il devoices and assimilates; the causative chooses -DIr vs -t by the shape of the stem; final voiceless/voiced alternations apply just as elsewhere. So the same voice can surface very differently: passive yaz-ıl- but aç-ıl- but oku-n-; causative yıka-t- but yaz-dır- but iç-ir-. The detail pages spell out each allomorph; this page just flags that the surface form always follows the regular sound rules.
Yeni köprü gelecek yıl açılacak.
The new bridge will open next year.
Ona her şeyi anlattırdılar.
They got him to tell everything.
Common mistakes
❌ Bu mektup yazıldı oldu.
Incorrect — English-style 'be/get' auxiliary stacked onto an already-passive verb
✅ Bu mektup yazıldı.
This letter was written.
The passive is already inside yazıldı. There is no separate "was" to add — the suffix -Il does the whole job.
❌ Arabayı yıkadım yaptım.
Incorrect — using a 'have done' auxiliary instead of the causative suffix
✅ Arabayı yıkattım.
I had the car washed.
"Have something done" is the causative -t on the verb (yıka-t-tım), not a separate auxiliary.
❌ Kendimi yıkadım.
Understandable, but unidiomatic — the reflexive suffix is the natural choice
✅ Yıkandım.
I washed (myself).
For everyday "I washed up", the reflexive yıkandım is the natural form; kendimi yıkadım sounds like washing oneself as an object.
❌ Birbirimizi görmedik uzun zamandır.
Grammatical, but the reciprocal verb is the idiomatic way to say it
✅ Uzun zamandır görüşmedik.
We haven't seen each other in a long time.
When a reciprocal verb exists (görüşmek), prefer it over the heavier birbirini + plain verb.
❌ Bu işi bana yapdırma.
Incorrect — d not devoiced after the voiceless p
✅ Bu işi bana yaptırma.
Don't make me do this job.
After the voiceless p of yap-, the causative -DIr surfaces as -tır: yaptırma.
Key takeaways
- Four voice suffixes share one slot — stem + VOICE + tense + person: passive -Il/-In/-n, causative -DIr/-t/-Ir, reflexive -In, reciprocal -Iş.
- Passive demotes the doer; causative adds a doer; reflexive turns the action back on the doer; reciprocal has doers act on each other.
- Voices stack in a fixed order (reflexive/reciprocal → causative → passive); causatives can repeat (yaptırttım).
- Reach for a suffix, not an English-style "be / have / get" auxiliary.
- Every voice suffix harmonizes and may trigger consonant changes at the boundary.
- This is the map; follow the links for each voice: passive, causative, reflexive, reciprocal.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Passive -Il / -In / -nB1 — How to build the Turkish passive from any verb stem, choosing -Il, -In, or -n by the final sound, and how the impersonal passive expresses generic 'one/you'.
- The Causative -DIr / -t / -IrB1 — How Turkish builds 'make/have someone do' with the causative suffix, which allomorph each verb takes, and how the suffix adds a new causer and demotes the old subject.
- The Reflexive -InB2 — How the suffix -In turns a verb back on its own subject (yıkanmak 'wash oneself', giyinmek 'get dressed'), and when to use it instead of the productive kendi(ni) reflexive.
- The Reciprocal -IşB2 — How the suffix -Iş builds verbs meaning 'do to each other' or 'do together' (görüşmek, mektuplaşmak, dövüşmek), and how it differs from the productive birbiri pronoun.