Language/Armenian/Grammar/Causative-Verbs
How to use Causative Verbs
Causative verbs are used to indicate one person or thing being a cause of the action of a second person or thing. In English we often use the helping verb “make” to form causatives, as in “to make someone laugh” or “to make something brown.” In Armenian we form the causative by adding the suffixes “ացն” and “եցն” to the root of “-ալ” and “-ել” verbs respectively. For example: գրել - գրեցնել (to write and to make one write), ծխել - ծխեցնել (to smoke and to make one smoke), լսել - լսեցնել (to hear and to make one hear) etc.
Causative forms of verbs
If the verb ends in -անալ or -ենալ the -անալ or -ենալ is replaced with -ացնել or -եցնել respectively. Here is a partial list of such verbs and their causative forms.
Tab1
Irregular causative forms
There are a few verbs that have irregular causative forms. The following is a list of often-used verbs with both regular and irregular changes.
Tab2
Examples
The following sentences use verbs with irregular causative forms:
1) Նրա կատակները ծիծաղեցրեցին մեզ։ His jokes made us laugh.
2) Դու ինձ ձանձրացնում ես։ You are making me bored.
3) Զգուշացրու քո ընկերոջը։ Warn your friend.
4) Խնդրում եմ՝ սենյակը մի զբաղեցրեք։ Please do not occupy the room.
5) Մենք ձեզ չենք սպասեցնի։ We will not make you wait.
Other ways to express the idea of making someone do something
In Armenian, the idea of making someone do something can be expressed in other ways too.
1) Infinitive + տալ (to give)
tab3
2) ստիպել (to compel), հարկադրել (to compel, to oblige), պարտադրել (to oblige) + infinitive
tab4
Examples
The following sentences feature these structures:
1) Տատիկս ինձ պարտադրեց սովորել վրացերեն։ My grandma obliged me to study Georgian.
2) Ես ուսանողներին ստիպեցի կարդալ Արիստոտելի գործերը։ I compelled students to read Aristotle’s works.
3) Մենք նրան հինգ ժամ սպասել տվեցինք։ We made him wait for five hours.
Sources
https://slaviccenters.duke.edu/sites/slaviccenters.duke.edu/files/handbook_of_armenian.pdf