kausatif

Kausatif is a grammatical category in linguistics that describes a construction or verb form in which the subject causes someone or something else to perform an action or to undergo a change of state. In a causative construction, the event depicted typically involves an increase in the number or type of participants (valency), with the subject acting as the causer.

Kausatives can appear in different ways. They may be lexical, where the base verb already encodes causation, or morphosyntactic, where a dedicated affix, clitic, or separate auxiliary marks the causative relation. Many languages use periphrastic devices such as the equivalents of “to make” or “to cause” to express causation, while others employ explicit causative morphemes attached to the verb.

In typology, causatives often alter transitivity. An intransitive verb can be turned into a transitive causative by introducing a causer and a patient, and sometimes into a ditransitive construction by adding a recipient or experiencer. Some languages even have double or multiple causatives, layering additional causation steps (e.g., causing someone to cause another to do something).

Usage examples help illustrate the concept. In English, periphrastic causatives include sentences like “The manager caused the team to work late” or “The coach made the players run extra laps.” In languages with explicit causative morphology, a single verb form may encode the entire causative relation rather than requiring an auxiliary. Kausativy interacts with other valency-changing processes such as antipassives and applicatives in many languages.

See also: causative voice, valency, causativization, antipassive, applicative.