4.1.1 Causative verbs

Understanding Causative Verbs in Urdu

In this chapter you will learn how to say that you make someone do something, or have something done, using causative verb patterns in Urdu. This is a major step up from basic verb use, because it lets you describe indirect actions and responsibilities.

We will focus on clear patterns, very common verbs, and a lot of real examples, rather than covering every rare form that exists.

1. What “causative” means

In English, compare:

• “I go to school.”
• “I send my son to school.”
• “I make him go to school.”
• “I have the car washed.”

The subject is not always doing the action directly. Sometimes the subject causes, orders, or arranges for the action.

Urdu has systematic causative forms for this idea.

Very roughly:

• Simple verb: do / happen
• First causative: cause someone to do / have something done
• Second causative: cause someone to cause someone else to do (a further step)

You will mostly use the first causative in everyday speech. The second causative is common, but usually with a smaller group of verbs.

We will show forms in the infinitive (dictionary) form, which ends in نا, for example:

• کرنا “to do”
• پڑھنا “to read / to study”
• کھانا “to eat / food” (verb: “to eat”)
• چلنا “to walk / to move”

Later, you can conjugate these causative forms in tenses, just like ordinary verbs.

2. Basic causative patterns: an overview

There are several regular patterns. You do not need to memorize every label, but you should recognize how the infinitive changes.

2.1 Common patterns table

Here is a compact overview. We will unpack with examples in the next sections.

You will notice a few main endings in the causatives:

• …انا
• …وانا
• …لانا

These are added to the verb stem, sometimes with small changes inside the stem itself.

We now look at systematic patterns.

3. Simple → first causative: regular patterns

3.1 Verbs like پڑھنا, چلنا: adding نا after a consonant

For a large group of verbs, the simple infinitive ends in نا directly after a consonant. These often form the causative by adding انا or وانا, sometimes with a small internal vowel change.

Typical examples:

\* مرنا → مارنا is a special case involving a consonant change.

Examples in sentences

• میں اردو پڑھتا ہوں۔
  “I study Urdu.”
• میں بچوں کو اردو پڑھاتا ہوں۔
  “I teach Urdu to children.” / “I make the children study Urdu.”
• گاڑی خود چلتی ہے۔
  “The car runs by itself.”
• وہ ٹیکسی چلاتا ہے۔
  “He drives a taxi.” (He makes the taxi move.)
• میں نے پیسے بینک میں رکھوائے۔
  “I got the money deposited at the bank.”

3.2 Verbs with stem + نا → stem + وان ا (get something done)

A very visible pattern for “getting something done by someone else” is وانا.

Often you use وانا when there is already an object, and your main meaning is “get this thing [verb]-ed.”

Very common:

• لکھنا “to write” → لکھوانا “to get written”
• بنانا “to make” → بنوایا “got made”
• دھونا “to wash” → دھلوانا “to get washed”
• سلائی کرنا “to stitch” (compound) → سلائی کروانا “to get stitching done”

Examples

• میں خط خود لکھتا ہوں۔
  “I write the letter myself.”
• میں خط ٹائپسٹ سے لکھواتا ہوں۔
  “I get the letter written by a typist.”
• وہ گاڑی خود دھوتا ہے۔
  “He washes the car himself.”
• وہ گاڑی کار واش پر دھلواتا ہے۔
  “He gets the car washed at the car wash.”
• ہم نے گھر بنایا۔
  “We built the house.” (We did it ourselves, at least grammatically.)
• ہم نے یہ گھر کنسٹرکشن کمپنی سے بنوایا۔
  “We got this house built by a construction company.”

3.3 Verbs ending in نا after a vowel: سونا, ہونا etc.

Some verbs end in ونا / ونا / نا after a long vowel. The causative often uses لانا or انا with slight internal changes.

Very common everyday ones:

\* ہونا does not have a single neat causative form. You usually use بنانا “to make” or a causative of a related verb such as کرنا → کرانا.

Examples

• بچہ خود سوتا ہے۔
  “The child sleeps (by himself).”
• ماں بچے کو سلاتی ہے۔
  “The mother puts the child to sleep.”
• وہ خود بیٹھتا ہے۔
  “He sits (by himself).”
• میں مہمانوں کو یہاں بٹھاتا ہوں۔
  “I seat the guests here.”
• وہ صبح جلدی جاگتا ہے۔
  “He wakes up early in the morning.”
• میں اسے سات بجے جگاتا ہوں۔
  “I wake him up at seven o’clock.”

4. Double causative (second causative)

Sometimes you want to say “I get him to make someone else do X.” Urdu can mark this extra level with a second causative form.

Typical structure:

• Simple: کرنا “to do”
• First causative: کرانا / کروانا “to make someone do / get done”
• Second causative: کروا دینا kind of periphrastic, but there are also pure second causatives with وانا on top of an already causative form. In everyday speech, people often use combinations such as کروانا plus another verb to express the idea.

For teaching at this level, focus more on understanding that کروانا itself already suggests that the subject is not doing the action personally.

Very often, what grammarians call “double causative” in traditional descriptions is expressed in modern speech with:

• First causative of a verb
  plus
• another light verb like دینا, لینا, رکھنا

Examples:

• میں نے کام کروایا۔
  “I had the work done.” (I got someone to do it.)
• میں نے اس سے کام کروایا نہیں، کروانا چاہا۔
  “I did not get the work done by him, I wanted to get it done (by him).”
• میں سامان کسی سے اٹھوایا نہیں, خود اٹھا لیا۔
  “I did not get the luggage carried by anyone, I carried it myself.”

You will see pure grammatical “double causatives” in more formal grammar books, but in real-life B2 usage, mastering کروانا، لکھوانا، دھلوانا، پکوانا and their tenses is much more important than memorizing every theoretical second causative.

5. Causatives of very common verbs

Some verbs are extremely frequent in causative forms. Learn these first, because they appear constantly in newspapers, conversation, and instructions.

5.1 کرنا → کرانا / کروانا

• کرنا “to do”
  Causative:
• کرانا and کروانا
  Both are common. کروانا often sounds a bit more explicit or emphatic “get done,” but in many contexts they overlap.

Examples in sentences

• مجھے بہت سا کام کرنا ہے۔
  “I have to do a lot of work.”
• میں کل یہ کام اپنے دوست سے کراوں گا۔
  “Tomorrow I will have my friend do this work.”
• ہم نے بچوں سے ہوم ورک کروایا۔
  “We made the children do the homework.”
• آپ نے رپورٹ کب کروائی؟
  “When did you get the report done?”

5.2 جانا → لے جانا / بھیجنا etc.

The verb جانا itself does not have a simple single-word causative. Instead, other verbs express “cause to go”:

• لے جانا “to take (someone/something) away / to a place”
• بھیجنا “to send”
• چلانا “to run / to drive (a vehicle)”

So for causative meaning related to movement, you will mostly use:

• لے جانا
• بھیجنا
• بلانا “to call” (make someone come)

Examples

• میں اسکول جاتا ہوں۔
  “I go to school.”
• میں بچوں کو اسکول لے جاتا ہوں۔
  “I take the children to school.” (I cause them to go.)
• میں اس خط کو کل ڈاک سے بھیجوں گا۔
  “I will send this letter by post tomorrow.”
• میں نے اسے میٹنگ میں بلایا۔
  “I called him to the meeting.” (I made him come.)

5.3 آنا → بلانا

Similarly, there is no single direct causative of آنا “to come.” Instead:

• بلانا “to call / invite / summon”
  means “to cause someone to come.”
• وہ کل میرے گھر آیا۔
  “He came to my house yesterday.”
• میں نے اسے اپنے گھر بلایا۔
  “I called / invited him to my house.”

You will treat بلانا as an ordinary verb, but conceptually, it is a causative of “coming.”

6. Meaning differences: do vs have done vs make do

Causatives are not only grammar; they also express social and practical relationships: who is responsible, who actually works, and who decides. Compare:

1. میں نے کمرہ صاف کیا۔
   “I cleaned the room.”
2. میں نے کمرہ صاف کروایا۔
   “I had the room cleaned.” / “I got the room cleaned.”
3. میں نے اس سے کمرہ صاف کرایا۔
   “I made him clean the room.” / “I got the room cleaned by him.”

The subject is always “I,” but:

• In (1) the speaker cleaned personally.
• In (2) someone else did it, not the speaker, but we do not say who.
• In (3) we explicitly mention who was made to do it.

Another set:

• میں نے خط لکھا۔
  “I wrote the letter.”
• میں نے خط ٹائپسٹ سے لکھوایا۔
  “I got the letter written by a typist.”
• میں نے بچے کو خط لکھوایا۔
  “I made the child write a letter.”

So لکھوانا can be:

• “to get (something) written”
• “to make (someone) write”

Context tells you which one is intended.

7. Causatives in different tenses (overview)

You already know how to conjugate normal verbs. Causative verbs follow exactly the same tense and agreement rules. Only the stem changes.

We illustrate with a few examples in the perfective and present habitual.

7.1 Present habitual (simple present)

Pattern (masculine singular subject):

• stem + تا ہوں

Use causative stem instead of simple stem.

7.2 Perfective past

Pattern (masculine singular subject):

• stem + یا

Examples:

• میں نے کپڑے دھلوائے۔
  “I got the clothes washed.”
• ہم نے رپورٹ لکھوائی۔
  “We got the report written.”
• استاد نے طالب علموں سے مشقیں کرائیں۔
  “The teacher made the students do the exercises.”
• اس نے گھر کی پینٹنگ کروائی۔
  “She had the house painted.”

You can apply all the tense and aspect combinations you already know, replacing the simple stem by the causative stem.

8. Causatives with two objects

Causative verbs often appear with two logical objects:

1. The person who is made to act
2. The thing or task that is done

In Urdu, these roles are usually marked with:

• The task / thing: as a direct object (no postposition)
• The person: often with سے

Example:

• میں نے بچے سے کمرہ صاف کرایا۔

Grammatical roles:

Translation: “I made the child clean the room.”

More examples:

• اس نے مزدوروں سے دیوار بنوائی۔
  “He had the wall built by the workers.”
• ہم نے ٹیکنیشن سے کمپیوٹر ٹھیک کروایا۔
  “We got the computer repaired by the technician.”
• انہوں نے ملازم سے گاڑی دھلوائی۔
  “They got the car washed by the servant.”

Notice that the structure is very flexible, but the key is:

• Subject (often with نے in perfective)
• Person who does the physical work, marked by سے
• Object of the action (room, wall, computer, car)
• Causative verb

9. Causatives vs passive

Urdu also has passive constructions. You will study passive voice in a separate chapter in this B2 level. Here, only notice the difference of focus:

• causative: emphasizes the agent who arranges the action
• passive: emphasizes the action itself or what happens to the object, often hides the agent

Compare:

1. causative:
• میں نے کمرہ صاف کروایا۔
  “I had the room cleaned.”
2. passive:
• کمرہ صاف کیا گیا۔
  “The room was cleaned.”
3. passive with agent:
• کمرہ ملازم سے صاف کروایا گیا۔
  “The room was got cleaned by the servant.” (more complex)

At this stage, focus on causatives to show who gets the work done. Passive voice will give you another tool, but do not mix up the two systems.

10. Common everyday expressions with causatives

Here are very frequent real-life patterns which you can imitate.

Sample sentences:

• میں آج بال کٹوانے جا رہا ہوں۔
  “I am going to get a haircut today.”
• ہمیں گاڑی کل ورکشاپ میں کروانی ہے۔
  “We have to get the car serviced at the workshop tomorrow.”
• ڈاکٹر نے کچھ ٹیسٹ کروانے کو کہا ہے۔
  “The doctor has told me to get some tests done.”
• عید سے پہلے لوگ نئے کپڑے سلوا لیتے ہیں۔
  “Before Eid people get new clothes stitched.”
• میں نے دوستوں کو یہاں بٹھایا۔
  “I seated my friends here.”

11. Practice patterns you can follow

To be comfortable with causatives, use these templates:

1. میں [thing] [person سے] [causative verb] ہوں / تھا / کروں گا
• میں کپڑے درزی سے سلوا رہا ہوں۔
  “I am getting clothes stitched by the tailor.”
• میں ہر مہینے گاڑی سروس کرواتا ہوں۔
  “I get the car serviced every month.”
2. میں [person] کو [verb]واتا / اتا ہوں (to make someone do)
• میں بچوں کو روزانہ کتاب پڑھواتا ہوں۔
  “I make the children read a book every day.”
• وہ ملازموں سے صفائی کرواتا ہے۔
  “He makes the servants do the cleaning.”
3. [person] نے مجھ سے [thing] [causative]۔
• استاد نے ہم سے مشقیں کروائیں۔
  “The teacher made us do exercises.”
• باس نے مجھ سے رپورٹ لکھوائی۔
  “The boss had me write a report.”

12. New vocabulary from this chapter

The focus of this list is verbs and common collocations related to causatives, plus some nouns that appeared in examples.

With these patterns and examples, you can now describe many situations where you arrange, order, or cause actions in Urdu, instead of doing everything yourself in the sentence.