Çatımızı boyacıya temizletip boyattık; ev tertemiz görünüyor.

We had the painter clean and paint our roof; the house looks spotless.

Breakdown of Çatımızı boyacıya temizletip boyattık; ev tertemiz görünüyor.

• ev: the house
• görünmek: to look
• -ya: to
• -ı: accusative

Questions & Answers about Çatımızı boyacıya temizletip boyattık; ev tertemiz görünüyor.

What does çatımızı consist of morphologically?

It’s çatı (roof) + -ımız (our, 1st person plural possessive) + -ı (accusative case). So çatımız = our roof; çatımızı = our roof (as a definite direct object).

Why is çatımızı in the accusative case?

Because it’s a specific, definite direct object of the action we caused (cleaning/painting). In Turkish, definite direct objects take the accusative. If it were indefinite/non-specific, you’d omit the accusative, but here “our roof” is clearly definite.

Why is boyacıya in the dative (-a/-e) case?

With causative verbs, the person you make/let do the action (the “causee”) is marked with dative:

• Ali’ye evi temizlettim = I made Ali clean the house. So boyacıya means “to the painter,” i.e., we had the painter do it.

Could we use tarafından instead of -ya for the agent?

Not with a causative. -ya/-e marks the causee in causatives. Tarafından is the usual agent marker in the passive:

• Causative: Çatımızı boyacıya temizletip boyattık.
• Passive: Çatımız boyacı tarafından temizlenip boyandı.

What does the causative suffix -t- do in temizletip and ?