-arazi

Making Someone Do: -arazi

Level 4

Add -arazi to the verb radical: irakurri → irakurrarazi (make read), etorri → etorrarazi (make come). A new person causes the action.

How It Works

How to form it. Attach -arazi to the radical, written as one word. See The Verb Radical.

  • irakurri → irakurrarazi; etorri → etorrarazi; erori → erorarazi.
  • jakin → jakinarazi (to inform); sinetsi → sinetsarazi (to make believe).
  • No extra t is added: irakurrarazi, not irakurtarazi; ezkonarazi, sorrarazi. A few are fixed with t: ulertarazi, ohartarazi.
  • The radical of the new verb ends in -araz: irakurraraz, etorraraz.

Who is in which case? The person who causes the action always takes -k. See Who Does What: nor and nork.

  • From a verb with only nor (Umea erori da), the one who acts stays nor and the verb uses du: Umea erorarazi du (He has made the child fall).
  • From a verb with nork (Ikasleek liburua irakurri dute), the one who acts moves to To Someone: -(r)i and the verb uses dio: Ikasleei liburua irakurrarazi die.

The other way: eragin. Causatives can also use the verb eragin. With barre egin (to laugh), the Academy recommends barre eragin: Barre eragin dit (She made me laugh), not barre eginarazi.

Use it only when someone is really made to act. The Academy advises against adding -arazi when the plain verb already says the same thing. To let someone do something rather than make them, use Letting Someone Do.

Examples (6)

  1. Irakasleak ikasleei liburua irakurrarazi die.

    The teacher has made the students read the book.

    irakurri has nork, so the students take -ei and the verb uses die.

  2. Medikua etorrarazi dute.

    They have had the doctor come.

    etorri has only nor: medikua stays nor and the verb uses du.

  3. Umea erorarazi du.

    He has made the child fall.

  4. Albistea jakinarazi digute.

    They have informed us of the news.

  5. Ez didazu hori sinetsaraziko.

    You will not make me believe that.

  6. Barre eragin dit.

    She made me laugh.

    With barre egin, the causative uses eragin.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the doer in -k when the verb already had nork.

    Irakasleak ikasleek liburua irakurrarazi du.
    Irakasleak ikasleei liburua irakurrarazi die.

    Only the causer takes -k. The students who read move to -ei, and the verb agrees with them: die.

  • Keeping the da auxiliary after adding -arazi.

    Umea erorarazi da.
    Umea erorarazi du.

    erori uses da, but erorarazi has a causer, so it uses du.

  • Adding a t before -arazi.

    Ikasleei liburua irakurtarazi die.
    Ikasleei liburua irakurrarazi die.

    The Academy's form is irakurrarazi. -arazi joins the radical directly.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-araziLevel 4Making Someone Do: -arazi

Learn This First

The causative needs the radical and diot.