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Causativity in Arabic and English. A causative form is an expression of a Subject causing or forcing someone or something to perform an action or to be in a certain condition. For example, 1.1 The students did the homework. 1.1 The teacher made her students do the homework.
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Causativity in Arabic and English • A causative form is an expression of a Subject causing or forcing someone or something to perform an action or to be in a certain condition. For example, 1.1 The students did the homework. 1.1 The teacher madeher students do the homework. 2.1 I fixed my car. 2.2 IhadAli fix my car. • Causative structures are common in English. They show that somebody or something is indirectly responsible for an action. The subject does not do the action him/herself, but causes someone or something else to perform it instead.
Basic Causative Structures in English 1- Active causative Structures • This structure is used when someone causes someone else to do something or causes something to happen. It usually has the basic structure: Subject / causative verb/ agent/ bare infinitive -or- to-infinitive / object / complement. • The judge had the lawyer defend the suspect • The Policeman had everyone show their I.D.
Some examples of causative verbs “Have” Form: (HAVE + Person + Verb) • We use the causative verb “have” when we authorize someone to do something for us. • They repaired the car. (they did it themselves) • They had their car repaired. (they arranged for someone to repair it) • I cut my hair yesterday. ( I cut it myself) • I had my hair cut yesterday. ( I went to the hairdresser and had someone cut it for me) • The doctor had his nurse take the patient’s temperature.
Some examples of causative verbs “Make” Form: (Make + Person + Verb) • This verb construction means “ to force someone to do something” • My father made me apologize for what I had done. • Did someone make you wear this ugly shirt? • She made her children tidy their beds every night.
Some examples of causative verbs “Get” Form: (Get + Person + to +Verb) • This verb construction means “ to convince someone to do something” or “to trick someone into doing something”. • How can teachers get their students to do all this work? • This TV commercials get people to buy this bad products.
Some examples of causative verbs “Let” Form: (Let + Person + Verb) • This verb construction means “ to allow someone to do something”. • Mary let me use her new laptop. • Will your parents let you go out tonight? • I do not know if my boss will let me take the day off.
Some causative verbs require the bare infinitive, namely, when using “have”, “let” and “make”. Other common causative actions require the full infinitive (to +verb), such as: get, convince, allow, encourage, permit, employ, require, urge, force, command, order, permit, help, etc. • The lawyer convinced the judge to reduce the fine. • The teacher encourages the students to speak. • The boss required all employees to come on time. • I got everyone to write a letter to the mayor.
Basic Causative Structures in English 2- Passive Causative Structures • This structure is used to talk about having something done by another person or thing. It has the following structure: [ Subject/ causative verb/ object / past participle ] I had the car cleaned up. • Ahmed had his house repaired after the storm had hit the area. • The Minister had his speech written by his assistant. • Our neighbours will have their house renovated.
Basic Causative Structures in English • In addition, the verbs “need” and “want” may be used in passive causative sentences: • I need the house cleaned up • Our instructor wants all questions answered. • Modal auxiliary verbs may also be used with the causative sentence structure to express a suggestion by the speaker: • He should have his shirt ironed. • You could have the letter sent by express mail.
Arabic Causative Structures 1- Arabic causatives are constructed morphologically only. One common way is through “gemination” (consonant doubling) of the middle radical letter of the verb, e.g. • ضحِك (to laugh) ضحَّك (to make someone laugh • خَرِب (to be destroyed) خَرَّب (to get something destroyed) • سـمِن (to be fat ) سمـَّن (to fatten) • نشِـط (to be active) نشَّـط (to make someone /something active)
Arabic Causative Structures • Arabic transitive verbs can be causativized: • كتَب (he wrote) كتَّب (he made someone write) • He wrote the letter. هو كتَب الرسالة • The teacher made the student the letter. كتَّب المعلم الطالب الرسالة 2- Prefixation of “Hamza” to verbs: • علمأعلم • دخل أدخل • جبر أجبر
Symmetries between Causative Structures in English • In Arabic, the verb “make” is commonly translated to ’jbar( ( أجبر, while “have” is commonly translated into ja’ala ((جعل, and “get” is translated into ?qna’a(أقنع) • أجبر عادل منى على تغيير رأيها Adel made Muna change her opinion. • جعل عادل منى تغير رأيها Adel had Muna change her opinion • أقنع عادل منى بتغيير رأيها • Adel got Muna to change her opinion
Teaching Activity: Gap-Fill Exercise • Fill in the following gaps with a suitable verb from the list: [ Let / Make / Have / Get ] 1- Sam really wanted a dog, but his parents wouldn't _______ him have a pet. 2- I don't know how you convince your children to clean up their rooms. I couldn't ______ my children to clean up their rooms if my life depended on it. 3- Professor John ________ his students use a dictionary while they were taking the test. 4- Professor John _________ each of his students write a paper on alternative energy sources in Europe. 5- My friend hates going to the cinema, but I finally ______ him to see the new release film. 6- I can't believe the zoo keeper _______ you feed the lion. That was so dangerous!
