Causative Verbs in Hindi

In Brief

Hindi causative verbs express that the subject causes another person or thing to act: करना “do” becomes कराना “make someone do” and करवाना “have something done through someone.” The first causative often suggests more direct involvement, while the second often suggests arranging the action through another person. These are useful tendencies, not a rule that can replace learning each common verb family.

Overview

A causative changes who is responsible for an action. Compare “The child ate” with “The mother fed the child”: the mother causes the eating. English often expresses this with a separate verb such as “make,” “have,” “get,” or “let,” and sometimes with a different word such as “feed.” Hindi commonly builds a new verb instead: खाना “eat” → खिलाना “feed” → खिलवाना “have someone fed.” Such a derived verb is called a causative—a verb meaning “cause an action to happen.”

This topic is introduced around B1 because it combines word formation with sentence structure. You must track the causer (the person who initiates the event), the causee (the person made or asked to act), and sometimes an object affected by the action. For example, in माँ ने बच्चे को खाना खिलाया, the mother is the causer, the child is the causee, and the food is what the child eats.

Causatives are extremely common in everyday Hindi. They cover personal care (बच्चे को सुलाना, “put the child to sleep”), teaching (हिंदी सिखाना, “teach Hindi”), services (बाल कटवाना, “get one’s hair cut”), instructions, business arrangements, and commands. English speakers should avoid looking for one fixed translation: करवाना may be “have done,” “get done,” “make someone do,” or simply a natural English service verb, depending on context.

How It Works

Three useful levels

Many verb families can be understood as three levels:

Level	Typical meaning	Example
Basic verb	the subject performs or undergoes the action	बच्चा सोता है। — The child sleeps.
First causative	the subject directly causes or helps the action	माँ बच्चे को सुलाती है। — The mother puts the child to sleep.
Second causative	the subject arranges for another person to cause or perform it	माँ आया से बच्चे को सुलवाती है। — The mother has the nanny put the child to sleep.

The labels “first” and “second” causative describe form and a common difference in meaning. Real usage is less mechanical. A first causative may simply be the ordinary lexical verb: दिखाना normally means “show,” सिखाना means “teach,” and सुनाना means “tell, recite, or play for someone.” A second causative strongly favors an arranged or mediated reading, but context still determines how direct the pressure is.

Forming the causative

A useful starting pattern is -आना for a first causative and -वाना for a second causative. Remove -ना from the infinitive (the dictionary form ending in -ना) before examining the stem. However, sound changes are frequent, so you should learn common verbs in families rather than attach endings blindly.

Basic verb	First causative	Second causative	Core meanings
करना	कराना	करवाना	do → make/arrange to do → have done through someone
पढ़ना	पढ़ाना	पढ़वाना	study/read → teach → have someone taught / have something read
बैठना	बैठाना	बैठवाना	sit → seat → have someone seated
उठना	उठाना	उठवाना	rise → raise/pick up → have raised/picked up
सोना	सुलाना	सुलवाना	sleep → put to sleep → have put to sleep
खाना	खिलाना	खिलवाना	eat → feed → have fed
पीना	पिलाना	पिलवाना	drink → give to drink → have given to drink
सीखना	सिखाना	सिखवाना	learn → teach → arrange for someone to be taught
सुनना	सुनाना	सुनवाना	hear/listen → tell/recite → have told/recited or played
देखना	दिखाना	दिखवाना	see → show → have shown / get examined
लिखना	लिखाना	लिखवाना	write → dictate/cause to write → have written
खुलना	खोलना	खुलवाना	open (by itself) → open something → have something opened
टूटना	तोड़ना	तुड़वाना	break (by itself) → break something → have something broken/demolished

This table shows why a simple suffix rule is not enough. खाना changes to खिलाना, not expected खानााना; सोना changes to सुलाना; and खुलना pairs with खोलना. Some first causatives are inherited or irregular transitive partners rather than transparent modern suffixes. Memorize high-frequency triples as units.

Building the sentence

A practical first-causative pattern is:

causer + causee को + object + causative verb

• शिक्षक ने बच्चों को कविता सुनाई। “The teacher recited a poem to the children.”
• माँ ने बच्चे को खाना खिलाया। “The mother fed the child.”

Here को marks the causee, often a person directly affected or prompted. The exact interpretation may also resemble a recipient: the children receive the recitation, and the child receives food.

With an intermediary in an arranged action, से is common:

causer + intermediary से + object + second causative

• मैंने दर्ज़ी से कमीज़ सिलवाई। “I had the tailor sew the shirt.”
• हमने मज़दूरों से घर रंगवाया। “We had the workers paint the house.”

The postposition से has several meanings, including “from,” “with,” and “by.” In causative sentences it can identify the person through whom the causer gets the work done. को and से do not merely encode “direct” versus “indirect” in every sentence; verb meaning, agency, and local usage matter. Learn the whole pattern used with each verb.

When both a causee and an intermediary are present, Hindi can name both:

• मालिक ने मैनेजर से कर्मचारियों को नियम समझवाए। “The owner had the manager explain the rules to the employees.”

Such sentences can become heavy. Speakers often omit a participant that is already obvious from context.

Conjugating the new verb

Once formed, a causative behaves like an ordinary -ना verb. Remove -ना and add the forms required by tense, aspect, gender, number, and politeness:

Infinitive	Habitual	Perfective	Imperative (तुम)	Polite imperative (आप)
खिलाना	खिलाता / खिलाती है	खिलाया / खिलाई	खिलाओ	खिलाइए
करवाना	करवाता / करवाती है	करवाया / करवाई	करवाओ	करवाइए
सुनाना	सुनाता / सुनाती है	सुनाया / सुनाई	सुनाओ	सुनाइए
लिखवाना	लिखवाता / लिखवाती है	लिखवाया / लिखवाई	लिखवाओ	लिखवाइए

Past-tense agreement

Causative verbs are generally transitive—they act on a person or thing. In the perfective past, the causer therefore commonly takes ने. This is the ergative construction: a past-transitive pattern in which the doer is marked with ने, while the verb normally agrees with an unmarked object.

• मैंने पत्र लिखवाया। The masculine singular पत्र is unmarked, so लिखवाया is masculine singular.
• मैंने चिट्ठी लिखवाई। The feminine singular चिट्ठी is unmarked, so लिखवाई is feminine singular.
• मैंने बच्चों को बुलवाया। The object is marked by को, so the verb takes the default masculine singular form बुलवाया.

This agreement belongs to the larger Hindi past-tense system; causative formation does not create a special tense of its own.

Examples in Context

Hindi	English	Note
माँ ने बच्चे को खिलाया।	Mother fed the child.	Direct, everyday first causative
पिताजी बच्चे को सुला रहे हैं।	Father is putting the child to sleep.	सोना → सुलाना
शिक्षक ने हमें नई कविता पढ़ाई।	The teacher taught us a new poem.	पढ़ाना means “teach” here
यह कहानी बच्चों को सुनाओ।	Tell this story to the children.	सुनाना often means “tell/recite”
डॉक्टर को अपनी रिपोर्ट दिखाइए।	Please show your report to the doctor.	Polite imperative of दिखाना
मैंने उससे दरवाज़ा खुलवाया।	I had him/her get the door opened.	Arranged causation; context identifies the person
हमने मिस्त्री से पंखा ठीक करवाया।	We had a repairer fix the fan.	A service arranged through a worker
रीमा ने दर्ज़ी से नई पोशाक सिलवाई।	Reema had a tailor sew a new outfit.	पोशाक is feminine, hence सिलवाई
उसने अपने बेटे को हिंदी सिखाई।	He/She taught Hindi to his/her son.	सीखना → सिखाना
उन्होंने बच्चों को टीका लगवाया।	They had the children vaccinated.	Common healthcare use of लगवाना
मैं कल बाल कटवाऊँगा।	I will get my hair cut tomorrow.	Natural service expression; male speaker
मैंने काम करवाया।	I had the work done.	The worker may be unmentioned
मालिक ने सहायक से पत्र लिखवाया।	The owner had the assistant write the letter.	से marks the intermediary writer
सुनाओ! क्या हुआ?	Tell me! What happened?	Idiomatic command; literally causative of सुनना

Common Mistakes

Attaching endings mechanically

• Wrong: खानाना for “feed”
• Right: खिलाना
• Why: Frequent causatives often change the stem. Learn खाना–खिलाना–खिलवाना as a family, not as a formula applied letter by letter.

Using the basic verb when someone causes the action

• Wrong: माँ ने बच्चे को खाया। for “Mother fed the child.”
• Right: माँ ने बच्चे को खिलाया।
• Why: खाया means “ate.” In fact, the wrong sentence sounds as if the mother ate the child. खिलाया supplies the causative meaning “fed.”

Treating every English “make” as a second causative

• Wrong strategy: always choosing -वाना because English says “make” or “have”
• Better: choose the established Hindi verb and the intended degree of mediation: बच्चे को बैठाना “seat the child,” but कर्मचारी से कुर्सियाँ लगवाना “have an employee set out the chairs.”
• Why: English wording does not map one-to-one onto the two Hindi causative levels.

Forgetting ने in the completed past

• Wrong: मैं काम करवाया।
• Right: मैंने काम करवाया।
• Why: Perfective transitive verbs normally use ने on the subject. Causatives are usually transitive.

Making the past verb agree with the causer

• Wrong: सीमा ने पत्र लिखवाई।
• Right: सीमा ने पत्र लिखवाया।
• Why: With ने, agreement is not with feminine सीमा. It is with unmarked masculine पत्र, so the form is लिखवाया. Compare सीमा ने चिट्ठी लिखवाई, where feminine चिट्ठी triggers लिखवाई.

Assuming से always means “by” in a passive

• Potentially misleading reading: मैंने मोहन से काम करवाया = “The work was done by Mohan.”
• Better translation: “I had Mohan do the work.”
• Why: The sentence is active: मैंने is the causer and मोहन से names the intermediary. English often changes the structure to sound natural.

Usage Notes

First causatives are not unusually formal or forceful. Many are simply basic everyday vocabulary: दिखाना “show,” बताना “tell,” सिखाना “teach,” and जगाना “wake someone.” Their meaning may no longer feel like a calculation from the basic verb. Learn their ordinary dictionary senses alongside their derivation.

Second causatives are especially frequent when talking about paid or delegated services. बाल कटवाना, कपड़े सिलवाना, घर रंगवाना, फोटो खिंचवाना, and इलाज करवाना describe getting a haircut, having clothes made, having a house painted, having a photograph taken, and arranging treatment. English may use “get,” “have,” or a simple verb; Hindi highlights that the subject arranged rather than personally performed the work.

Causation does not necessarily mean coercion. Depending on the verb and context, कराना or करवाना can mean making, persuading, helping, commissioning, or arranging. Tone, social relationship, and added words clarify whether the causee acted willingly. If force matters, Hindi can state it explicitly with expressions such as ज़बरदस्ती “by force.”

In speech, the intermediary is often omitted: मैंने फोन ठीक करवाया naturally means “I got the phone repaired,” even though no technician is named. Conversely, adding खुद can stress personal involvement: मैंने खुद उसे पढ़ाया means “I taught him/her myself.”

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Causatives can gain specialized meanings

A derived form may develop a meaning narrower than its literal components. दिखवाना can mean “have someone/something examined,” especially by a professional: डॉक्टर को दिखवाना means “have [the patient/problem] checked by a doctor.” सुनाना can mean “narrate,” “recite,” or even “give someone a piece of one’s mind” in the expression खरी-खोटी सुनाना. Context and common collocations therefore matter as much as morphology.

Transitive and causative boundaries are not always neat

Pairs such as खुलना–खोलना and टूटना–तोड़ना contrast an event happening on its own with an agent acting on something: “open” versus “open something,” “break” versus “break something.” Traditional descriptions may treat the second member as causative, while learners may find “intransitive/transitive pair” more intuitive. An intransitive verb has no direct object; a transitive verb acts on an object. The next form, खुलवाना or तुड़वाना, adds an arranger or intermediary.

Not every theoretically possible form is equally common, and synonymous bases may form causatives differently. A dictionary and exposure to natural sentences are safer than inventing a form when you have not encountered it.

Ambiguity is resolved by context

मैंने राम से मोहन को बुलवाया means roughly “I had Ram summon Mohan”: the से phrase is the intermediary and the को phrase is the summoned person. But shorter sentences can leave roles unstated. Hindi speakers rely on context, plausibility, and established argument patterns—the usual participants taken by a verb. When clarity matters, name the intermediary and affected person explicitly or split a dense sentence into two clauses.

Causative and passive viewpoints differ

Compare:

• मैंने मकान बनवाया। “I had the house built.” The sentence focuses on the person who arranged it.
• मकान बनाया गया। “The house was built.” The passive focuses on the house and may omit the organizer and builder.

Both can describe the same real-world project, but they choose different viewpoints. The causative makes the organizer grammatically central; the passive makes the affected object central.

Practice Tips

1. Learn triples, not isolated verbs. Make cards such as सोना → सुलाना → सुलवाना and add one sentence for each level. Include irregular families like खाना → खिलाना → खिलवाना early.
2. Map the participants. For each sentence, label “who arranged it?”, “who actually acted?”, and “what or whom was affected?” Then decide whether को, से, or an omitted participant is natural.
3. Practice real services. Describe five things you arrange rather than do yourself: बाल कटवाना, फोन ठीक करवाना, or कपड़े सिलवाना. Retell them in present, future, and completed past so that causative formation and past agreement are practiced together.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Simple Past Tense — review perfective forms, ने, and object-based agreement before using causatives in past narration.
• Useful contrast: Passive Voice — compare focus on the organizer with focus on the affected object.
• Useful extension: Compound Verbs — distinguish causative derivation from two-verb combinations that add completion, benefit, or other nuances.