-eeyaa

Building a Causative with -eeyaa

Level 5

Fudud ‘easy’ → fududeeyaa ‘simplifies’; yar ‘small’ → yareeyaa ‘reduces’.

How It Works

The -eeyaa family commonly derives from adjectives and certain nouns denoting qualities. Its verbs are transitive: kululeeyaa means ‘heats something’, fududeeyaa ‘makes something easier’, yareeyaa ‘reduces something’, and wasakheeyaa ‘makes something dirty’.

These verbs follow the second-conjugation ee/ay stem pattern. Compare kululeeyaa for I/he with kululaysaa for you singular/she. Past forms are kululeeyay and kululaysay; the infinitive is kululayn. The reference also accepts ey spellings for the diphthong alternation.

Compare Cuntadu way kululaataa, ‘The food becomes warm’, with Cali wuxuu kululeeyaa cuntada, ‘Ali heats the food’. The second introduces a causer and makes the food an object. This contrast concerns participant structure, not tense. Learn established derived verbs and their bases rather than treating the ending as a universal causative for every word.

Examples (3)

  1. Cali wuxuu kululeeyay cuntada.

    Ali heated the food.

    Ali causes a change in the food’s temperature.

  2. Maryan waxay fududaysay shaqada.

    Maryan made the work easier.

    The feminine past form uses the ay stem.

  3. Dukaanku wuxuu yareeyay qiimaha.

    The shop reduced the price.

    The price is the affected object.

How It Connects

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

-eeyaaLevel 5Building a Causative with -eeyaa

Learn This First

Recognize causative formation before comparing the separate attested -eeyaa pattern.