Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

The verb phrase 131
For a full discussion of adverbials see Chapter 16.
13.2 TRANSITIVITY AND VOICE
In many instances where English has unrelated stems for transitive and intransitive pairs
(e.g. drop and fall), or identical verbs with transitive and intransitive meaning (e.g.
change (something) and change (in the sense of go through a change)), Turkish uses
voice suffixes to alter the transitivity of a verb. There are four voice suffixes in Turkish
(8.2.1): the causative, the passive, the reflexive and the reciprocal. In the overwhelming
majority of cases the final suffix of a verb derived in this fashion automatically indicates
the transitivity or intransitivity of a stem. Almost all verb stems ending in the passive,
reflexive or reciprocal suffixes -Il, -(I)n, -(I)ş, or the composite suffixes -lAn or -lAş, are
intransitive (see 7.2.1.2 for exceptions), and verb stems ending in the causative suffix (-
DIr, -t, -It, -Ir, -Ar, -Art) or the composite suffix -lAt are transitive.
Transitivizing an intransitive verb by attaching the causative suffix (8.2.1.1):
değiş- ‘change’ değiş-tir- ‘change (s.t.)’
uğraş- ‘be busy (with)’ uğraş-tır- ‘preoccupy’
yürü- ‘walk’ yürü-t- ‘make (s.o.) walk’
ürk- ‘be scared (of)’ ürk-üt- ‘scare’
düş- ‘fall’ düş-ür- ‘drop’
çık- ‘go/come out’ çık-ar- ‘remove, get (s.t.) out’
Intransitivizing a transitive verb by attaching the passive (8.2.1.2) or reflexive suffix
(8.2.1.3):
yık- ‘destroy’ yık-ıl- ‘fall apart’, ‘be destroyed’
eğ- ‘bend (s.t.)’ eğ-il- ‘bend over’
sakla- ‘hide (s.t.)’ sakla-n- ‘hide’
yıka- ‘wash’ yıka-n- ‘be washed’, ‘get washed’,
‘have a bath/shower’
ört- ‘cover’ ört-ün- ‘cover oneself’
Voice suffixes alter the function of the major constituents in a sentence, as explained
below.
13.2.1 CAUSATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
The causative suffix (i.e. one of the forms -DIr, -t, -It, -Ir, -Ar, -Art, see 8.2.1.1) can
attach to transitive and intransitive verbs.