CAUSATION

The Hungarian term for causation is: műveltetés. This word is a causation in itself! Watch this:

művel + -tet + -és = műveltetés
to do + to cause + -ation = causation

Hungarian verbs are made causative with the suffixes. These suffixes do not require any link vowel.

-at, -et, -tat, -tet

English expresses causation with these verbs: to make, to cause, to get, to have sg done.

Now the question arises: Is there a difference between -at, -et and -tat, -tet? Sure there is! 🙂

GROUP 1
-Generally speaking, all Hungarian verbs
–Verbs ending in two consonants
-The V-verb lő
> take the suffixes -AT, -ET in causation.

rakat – get sy to put
mondat – make sy say
várat – keep sy waiting
ölet – get sy to kill sy
sejtet – suggest, foreshadow
lövet – to bomb (literally: have sg shot OR make sy shoot sg)

NOTE! The verbs lövet and sejtet are NOT CAUSATIVE verbs in English!

GROUP 2
-The verbs vesz, hisz, visz
-The -ik verbs
> take the suffixes -TAT, -TET in causation.

eszik – etet > to feed
iszik – itat > to give sg to drink
alszik – altat         > to put sy to sleep
nyugszik – nyugtat > to calm sy down
fekszik – fektet > to get sy to bed; to lay down
tűnik – tüntet > to make a demonstration
vesz – vetet > to get sy to buy
hisz – hitet > make sy believe
visz – vitet > to get sy to bring

GROUP 3
-The verb tesz
> can take both the suffixes -ET and -TET in causation! It is because tesz has two different meanings: to put, to do

If it means to put, it takes: -et > tetet = to get sy to put
If it means to do, it takes: -tet > tettet = to pretend

John odateteti Ádámmal a széket. – John has Adam put the chair over there.
John tetteti, hogy beteg. – John pretends to be ill.

GROUP 4
-Two verbs not in need of causation in Hungarian:

elejt = to let sg fall
elenged = to let sy go

Elejtettem a tollam. – I let my pen fall.
Engedje el a túszokat! – Let the hostages go.

GROUP 5
rávesz = to persuade
kényszerít = to force

A fiú rávette a lányt egy csókra.
The boy persuaded the girl to kiss him.

Emiatt a lány arra kényszerítette a fiú arcát, hogy az öklébe essen.
That made the girl force the boy’s face to fall in her fist.

These sentences show two Hungarian verbs in causation, but English can have three in the case of ’that made’. The expression ’that made’ is translated as:

emiatt = because of this

The words emiatt, amiatt, miatt can also be translated in English as: to cause sy to. However, it is not always a good solution.

His anger caused him to strangle the woman.
Dühében megfojtotta a nőt.

The literal Hungarian translation is: In his anger he strangled the woman.

GROUP 6
Verbs that definitely CANNOT SUFFER CAUSATION:
-the substantive verbs: van, lesz
-these two verbs expressing motion: jön, megy
-V-verbs: nő, sző, ró (except lő!)

IMPORTANT! I’ve mentioned before that the verb rí is an almost extinct verb because sír is used instead. That statement is still as true as it can be. However, when it comes to causation, rí is used in this form: ríkat = make sy cry

It’s important since sír also has a causative form: sirat = to bewail, to mourn

A szerelmes történetek megríkatják a nőket.
Love stories make women cry.

Az anya siratja a fiát.
The mother is mourning his son.

Of course, causative verbs can be conjugated in indefinite and/or definite conjugation depending on what the verb means. They can be put in past tense, conditional mood, imperative mood, as well.

When in imperative mood, the final t of the suffixes -at, -et, -tat, -tet becomes double ss!

sirassa, etesse, lövesse, tetesse / tettesse, altassa…

The person you get to do something is in instrumental case in Hungarian, that is you use the suffixes -val, -vel.

Megcsináltatom vele a kocsit. – I’ll have him repair the car.
Idehozatja velük a bort. – He has the wine brought by them over here.