# Croatian: sentence - causative



## Enver24

Hello I would like to know if there are some ways to make a sebtebce have a causative meaning in Croatian.For example John had the man killed.Or something like I will make my mom do the dishes. Thanksnfor the replies


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## Zec

I don't think there is a standard way to form causatives in Croatian, comparable to, eg. French _faire + inf._ In some cases you can use _dati _"to give" + inf. For example, your first sentence can be translated as "Ivan je dao ubiti čovjeka". But, that doesn't quite work with your second sentence...

There exist also fossilized ancient Indo-European causatives, formed by ablaut, for example _umrijeti_ "to die" > _umoriti_ "to kill", but you can't form new words that way.


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## Enver24

Thanks a lot but in which cases can I use that construction can you please clarify a little bit more about the usage of this construction


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## Zec

I would say the construction is not actually a real causative. It is quite similar to English "have something done", in that you only have one subject, while in true causative constructions you have two subjects: that's why the second sentence can't be translated this way: it has two subjects: "I" and "mom".

Hope this helps, because I am really bad at explaining syntax.


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## Enver24

Thanks a lot that helped a lot


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## iezik

Enver24 said:


> causative meaning


Enver, what do you mean with causative meaning? You wrote two examples in English, but I wonder if you want to translate the Turkish causative from of verbs, the one using verb suffixes like -tir, -dir, -tır, -dır? The English usage tells something about the transfer of action from a person to a person as it uses different introductory verbs *have, get, let, make, help*. Oh, do you count all these verbs as having causative meaning?

He *had *him *cook *a meal.
He *got *him *cook *a meal.
He *let *him *cook *a meal.
He *made *him *cook *a meal.
He *helped *him *cook *a meal.

In general, two English verbs are translated into two Croatian verbs.


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## Enver24

iezik said:


> Enver, what do you mean with causative meaning? You wrote two examples in English, but I wonder if you want to translate the Turkish causative from of verbs, the one using verb suffixes like -tir, -dir, -tır, -dır? The English usage tells something about the transfer of action from a person to a person as it uses different introductory verbs *have, get, let, make, help*. Oh, do you count all these verbs as having causative meaning?
> 
> He *had *him *cook *a meal.
> He *got *him *cook *a meal.
> He *let *him *cook *a meal.
> He *made *him *cook *a meal.
> He *helped *him *cook *a meal.
> 
> In general, two English verbs are translated into two Croatian verbs.


So basically I am looking for the meaning of He had him cook a meal or He got him cook. a meal I think this is the causative equivalent in Turkish


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## iezik

When translating from English, the construction "person1 had person2 do" can be usually translated, as already explained by Zec, into "person1 je dao/dala person2 raditi", so the "had" is usually translated with "dao/dala". Let me now turn to other translation possibilities.

Visiting a heairdresser involves two persons, a client and a hairdresser, but still Croatian expresses only the action of a client to express *šišati/ cut hair*:

(hr) *Ošišala* sam se na kratko i frizer je preterao sa skraćivanjem.
(en) I *cut *my hair short and the hairdresser shortened [hair] too much.

What the translation in Turkish? Is a causative form used?

The causative form in English or Croatian seems to be used only if both patterns are possible for a particular verb/ action: do it yourself or do it with a help of somebody else. If only one pattern is possible, _dao/ dala_ is not used.


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