Causative Constructions in Greek

In Brief

Modern Greek has no special causative verb form equivalent to “make someone do something.” Instead, it uses a verb such as βάζω “make/get,” κάνω “make/cause,” αφήνω “let,” or πείθω “persuade,” followed by a να-clause: Τον έβαλα να καθίσει “I made him sit down.” The person affected normally appears as the object of the first verb and as the understood subject of the verb after να.

Overview

A causative construction presents one person, event, or thing as responsible for another action or result. In “She made me laugh,” she causes the event and I do the laughing. English often expresses this relationship with make, have, get, or let plus another verb. Modern Greek builds it with two verb phrases and chooses the first verb according to the kind of influence involved.

This is a B2 topic because the individual ingredients are familiar earlier: object pronouns, ordinary conjugated verbs, and the subjunctive (a verb pattern introduced by να). The challenge is combining them naturally and selecting the right causative verb. βάζω, κάνω, αφήνω, and πείθω are not interchangeable: they can suggest pressure, a produced effect, permission, or successful persuasion.

Unlike some languages, Greek has no productive morphological causative—that is, no regular ending that can be added to a verb to mean “cause someone to do it.” It also lacks the infinitive used in English make him leave. A Greek clause therefore keeps να and a verb marked for the person who performs the second action: με έκανε να γελάσω “made me laugh,” but μας έκανε να γελάσουμε “made us laugh.”

How It Works

The basic pattern

The most useful template is:

causer + causative verb + affected person + να + second verb

In Η Άννα τον έβαλε να περιμένει (“Anna made him wait”):

• Η Άννα is the causer—the person responsible for the situation.
• τον is an object pronoun (a short form meaning “him” as the person affected by the first verb).
• έβαλε states the kind of causation.
• να περιμένει names the action; its understood subject is the same person as τον.

With a full noun phrase, the person is normally in the accusative case (the form commonly used for a direct object):

• Έβαλα τον Νίκο να τηλεφωνήσει. — “I made/asked Nikos to call.”
• Έπεισαν τη Μαρία να μείνει. — “They persuaded Maria to stay.”

With an unstressed object pronoun, put it before the conjugated causative verb in an ordinary statement:

English role	Singular	Plural
me / us	με	μας
you	σε	σας
him / her / them	τον, τη(ν), το	τους, τις, τα

Thus: με έκανε, τον έβαλα, την έπεισα, τους αφήνει. In a positive command, the pronoun normally follows the imperative: Άφησέ με να μιλήσω “Let me speak.”

Choosing the first verb

Construction	Core meaning	Typical implication
βάζω κάποιον να…	make/get someone to do	The causer directs, pressures, assigns, or induces the action.
κάνω κάποιον/κάτι να…	make/cause someone or something to	The causer produces a reaction, event, or result.
αφήνω κάποιον να…	let/allow someone to do	The causer gives permission or does not prevent the action.
πείθω κάποιον να…	persuade/convince someone to do	The person acts after being convinced.

Βάζω: getting someone to act

The literal meaning of βάζω is “put,” but βάζω κάποιον να… means “make/get someone to…”:

• Ο προπονητής μάς έβαλε να τρέξουμε. — “The coach made us run.”
• Θα τον βάλω να το ξαναγράψει. — “I’ll make/get him to rewrite it.”

The exact force depends on context and relationship. A boss assigning a task, a parent insisting, or a friend getting somebody to help can all use βάζω. English “make” may sound strongly coercive, while Greek βάζω can sometimes be closer to “get” or “have someone do.” Context tells you whether the action was an order, pressure, or simply an arrangement.

Κάνω: producing an effect

Use κάνω…να… when something causes a response or brings about a result:

• Αυτό το τραγούδι με κάνει να χαμογελάω. — “This song makes me smile.”
• Η ζέστη έκανε το παγωτό να λιώσει. — “The heat made the ice cream melt.”

With a person, κάνω is especially common for emotional, physical, and mental reactions: laughing, crying, worrying, remembering, or feeling something. It need not imply an order. In Με έκανε να γελάσω, the other person caused my laughter; they did not necessarily command me to laugh.

Αφήνω: permission or non-prevention

Αφήνω κάποιον να… means that the person is permitted to act or is not stopped:

• Οι γονείς της την αφήνουν να ταξιδεύει μόνη. — “Her parents let her travel alone.”
• Μην τον αφήσεις να μπει. — “Don’t let him come in.”

Because αφήνω can also mean “leave,” the following structure matters. Άφησα τον Πέτρο στο σπίτι means “I left Petros at home”; Άφησα τον Πέτρο να φύγει means “I let Petros leave.”

Πείθω: successful persuasion

Πείθω κάποιον να… focuses on changing someone’s mind:

• Την έπεισα να έρθει. — “I persuaded her to come.”
• Δεν κατάφεραν να τον πείσουν να υπογράψει. — “They did not manage to persuade him to sign.”

English uses both “persuade” and “convince.” When “convince” means causing someone to accept an idea, Greek commonly uses πείθω + ότι (“convince [someone] that…”). When it leads to an action, πείθω + να is the relevant pattern.

The second verb: person and aspect

The verb after να agrees in person and number with its own understood subject:

• Με έβαλε να περιμένω. — “He/She made me wait.”
• Μας έβαλε να περιμένουμε. — “He/She made us wait.”
• Τον έβαλε να περιμένει. — “He/She made him wait.”

Greek also makes an aspect choice—whether the action is viewed as ongoing/repeated or as one bounded event. This is not simply a present-versus-past distinction:

Ongoing or repeated viewpoint	One bounded event
Τον έβαζε να καθαρίζει κάθε μέρα. — She made him clean every day.	Τον έβαλε να καθαρίσει την κουζίνα. — She made him clean the kitchen.
Το φάρμακο με κάνει να νυστάζω. — The medicine makes me sleepy.	Το αστείο με έκανε να γελάσω. — The joke made me laugh.

A past causative verb does not require a separately marked past tense after να. In με έκανε να γελάσω, έκανε locates the causation in the past, while γελάσω presents the caused laugh as a complete event.

Negation changes the meaning

The position of negation shows which part is denied:

• Δεν τον έβαλα να φύγει. — “I did not make him leave.” The causation is denied.
• Τον έβαλα να μη φύγει. — “I made/told him not to leave.” The second action is negated.
• Δεν τον άφησα να φύγει. — “I did not let him leave.”
• Τον άφησα να μη συμμετάσχει. — “I allowed him not to participate.”

Use δεν before an ordinary conjugated main verb, but μη(ν) to negate the verb inside a να-clause. This contrast is both grammatical and essential to the intended meaning.

Examples in Context

Greek	English	Note
Τον έβαλα να καθίσει.	I made him sit down.	βάζω + one bounded action
Η διευθύντρια μας έβαλε να ξανακάνουμε την άσκηση.	The principal made us do the exercise again.	An assigned action
Θα βάλω έναν ηλεκτρολόγο να ελέγξει τον πίνακα.	I’ll get an electrician to check the panel.	An arrangement; “get/have someone to”
Με έκανε να γελάσω.	He/She made me laugh.	A caused reaction
Αυτή η είδηση την έκανε να αλλάξει γνώμη.	This news made her change her mind.	An event produces a result
Ο δυνατός αέρας έκανε την πόρτα να κλείσει.	The strong wind made the door close.	A non-human cause
Δεν τους αφήνει να φύγουν.	He/She doesn’t let them leave.	Permission is refused
Άφησέ με να τελειώσω, σε παρακαλώ.	Let me finish, please.	Pronoun after a positive imperative
Οι γιατροί τον άφησαν να επιστρέψει στη δουλειά.	The doctors allowed him to return to work.	Permission after assessment
Την έπεισα να έρθει.	I persuaded her to come.	Successful persuasion
Προσπάθησε να με πείσει να αγοράσω το αυτοκίνητο.	He/She tried to persuade me to buy the car.	The attempt may not succeed
Δεν τον έβαλα να το πει.	I didn’t make him say it.	Negation of the causation
Τον έβαλα να μην το πει σε κανέναν.	I told/made him not to tell anyone.	Negation inside the να-clause
Το φως με έκανε να κλείσω τα μάτια.	The light made me close my eyes.	Immediate physical response

Common Mistakes

Dropping να as English drops “to”

• Wrong: Τον έκανα φύγει.
• Right: Τον έκανα να φύγει.
• Why: Modern Greek does not use an infinitive after causative verbs. The second verb belongs in a να-clause.

Using the wrong person on the second verb

• Wrong: Μας έβαλε να περιμένει.
• Right: Μας έβαλε να περιμένουμε.
• Why: μας means “us,” so the people waiting are “we.” The second verb must therefore be first-person plural.

Treating βάζω and κάνω as exact synonyms

• Unnatural for the intended meaning: Το αστείο με έβαλε να γελάσω.
• Natural: Το αστείο με έκανε να γελάσω.
• Why: A joke produces a reaction; it does not normally direct or assign you to laugh. Use κάνω for the caused effect and βάζω for getting someone to perform an action.

Using δεν inside the να-clause

• Wrong: Τον έβαλα να δεν φύγει.
• Right: Τον έβαλα να μη φύγει.
• Why: A negative να-clause uses μη(ν), not δεν.

Misplacing an unstressed object pronoun

• Wrong: Έβαλα τον να καθίσει.
• Right: Τον έβαλα να καθίσει.
• Why: In a normal statement, an unstressed pronoun such as τον goes before the conjugated verb. Do not copy the English order “made him.”

Translating every English “have” with έχω

• Wrong: Είχα τον υδραυλικό να επισκευάσει τη βρύση. (for “I had the plumber fix the tap”)
• Right: Έβαλα έναν υδραυλικό να επισκευάσει τη βρύση. / Ζήτησα από έναν υδραυλικό να επισκευάσει τη βρύση.
• Why: Greek έχω primarily means possession or forms perfect tenses; it is not a general equivalent of causative English “have.” Choose a phrase that states whether you arranged, requested, or ordered the work.

Usage Notes

The social force of βάζω depends heavily on context. Με έβαλε να περιμένω may sound like “He made me wait,” with annoyance or lack of choice. Θα βάλω τον Γιάννη να σου τηλεφωνήσει can be a neutral arrangement: “I’ll get Giannis to call you.” If you want to make a polite request explicit, ζητάω/ζητώ από κάποιον να… (“ask someone to…”) is often clearer and softer.

Κάνω frequently introduces an involuntary or indirect effect. A person, object, fact, or whole situation can be the causer: Η μουσική με κάνει να χαλαρώνω (“Music makes me relax”), Αυτό με έκανε να σκεφτώ (“That made me think”). English speakers should resist automatically using βάζω for every instance of “make.” Ask whether someone is being directed to act or whether a result is being produced.

Αφήνω ranges from active permission to simply not preventing something. Its negative form is common in warnings and protective instructions: Μην αφήνεις τα παιδιά να παίζουν στον δρόμο (“Don’t let the children play in the street”). The informal imperative άσε also appears in conversational expressions such as Άσε με να δω (“Let me see”) and Άσε να το κάνω εγώ (“Let me do it”).

Greek often leaves the subject pronoun unstated because the verb ending identifies it. However, the object pronoun in these causative patterns usually cannot disappear if it is needed to identify who performs the second action. Compare Με έκανε να γελάσω (“He/She made me laugh”) with Έκανε να φύγει, which does not transparently mean “made [someone] leave” and belongs to other possible structures and meanings.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Different subjects and explicit noun phrases

The affected person is grammatically tied to the first verb but understood as the subject of the second. This allows a full noun phrase to carry detailed information:

• Η δασκάλα έβαλε τους μαθητές της τελευταίας σειράς να διαβάσουν δυνατά. — “The teacher made the students in the last row read aloud.”

When the second action itself has an object, keep the roles clear:

• Έβαλα τον Νίκο να καλέσει τη Μαρία. — “I got Nikos to call Maria.”

Here τον Νίκο is the person doing the calling, while τη Μαρία receives that action. With two pronouns, Greek may prefer a full noun or a reformulation to avoid a dense or ambiguous string.

Causation without an expressed person

Κάνω να… can connect a cause directly with an event, especially when no human agent is being ordered:

• Η βροχή έκανε το ποτάμι να ξεχειλίσει. — “The rain caused the river to overflow.”
• Η καθυστέρηση έκανε πολλούς να χάσουν την ανταπόκριση. — “The delay caused many people to miss their connection.”

Formal writing may instead choose a more precise lexical verb such as προκαλώ (“cause, provoke”): Η βλάβη προκάλεσε διακοπή ρεύματος (“The fault caused a power outage”). This is causative in meaning but does not use the same object + να-clause pattern.

Resultative κάνω + adjective

Greek can express a caused state with κάνω + object + adjective rather than a second verb:

• Η εμπειρία τον έκανε πιο προσεκτικό. — “The experience made him more careful.”
• Έβαψαν τους τοίχους και έκαναν το δωμάτιο πιο φωτεινό. — “They painted the walls and made the room brighter.”

The adjective (a describing word) agrees with the person or thing it describes where Greek agreement applies: προσεκτικό is masculine singular because it describes τον. This pattern is related in meaning but structurally different from τον έκανε να προσέχει (“made him be careful/pay attention”).

Attempts versus successful causation

A completed form of πείθω normally presents persuasion as successful: Τον έπεισα να έρθει implies that he came or agreed to come. To describe only an attempt, say Προσπάθησα να τον πείσω να έρθει (“I tried to persuade him to come”). Likewise, του είπα να έρθει (“I told him to come”) reports what was said but does not guarantee that he came.

The first verb therefore contributes more than a generic idea of cause. Compare:

• Του είπα να φύγει. — I told him to leave.
• Του ζήτησα να φύγει. — I asked him to leave.
• Τον έπεισα να φύγει. — I persuaded him to leave.
• Τον έβαλα να φύγει. — I made/got him to leave.
• Τον άφησα να φύγει. — I let him leave.

Notice that λέω and ζητάω/ζητώ commonly mark the person with a genitive pronoun such as του (“to him”), while the four core constructions in this article generally use an accusative object such as τον. Learning the whole frame of each verb is safer than translating one English verb at a time.

Practice Tips

1. Build four-way contrasts. Take one action, such as να φύγει, and make four sentences: τον έβαλα να φύγει, τον έκανα να φύγει, τον άφησα να φύγει, and τον έπεισα να φύγει. Explain aloud how the situation changes in each one.
2. Swap the affected person. Transform Με έκανε να γελάσω into μας έκανε να γελάσουμε, τον έκανε να γελάσει, and τους έκανε να γελάσουν. This trains both object pronouns and agreement on the second verb.
3. Practise scope and aspect in pairs. Contrast Δεν τον έβαλα να φύγει with Τον έβαλα να μη φύγει. Then compare a clearly repeated action with one bounded task: Τον βάζει να καθαρίζει κάθε μέρα / Τον έβαλε να καθαρίσει σήμερα.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subjunctive Mood — provides the να + verb structure used in every core pattern here.