Double Causative

The double causative is used to express complex agency. It is particularly common in professional or administrative contexts where a leader delegates a task to a subordinate, who then manages the actual execution.

1. Morphological Rules:
The choice of the second suffix depends on the shape of the first causative stem:

• Pattern A (-t + -tir): Used when the first causative ends in -t. This occurs with vowel-ending roots and polysyllabic roots ending in the liquid consonants -l and -r.
  Example: temizle- (clean) → temizle-t- → temizle-t-tir-; otur- (sit) → otur-t- → otur-t-tur-.
  Note: Monosyllabic roots ending in -l or -r usually take -dir instead (e.g., öl- → öl-dür-, ver- → ver-dir-).
• Pattern B (-dir/-ir/-er + -t): Used when the first causative stem ends in the suffixes -dir, -ir, or -er. This includes most roots ending in -k (like bak- → bak-tır-) and polysyllabic roots ending in -k (like acık- → acık-tır-).
  Example: yap- (do) → yap-tır- → yap-tır-t-; iç- (drink) → iç-ir- → iç-ir-t-; bak- (look) → bak-tır- → bak-tır-t-.

2. Lexicalized Causatives:
Double causatives are often employed when the first causative form has become a standard, lexicalized verb in its own right. For instance, pişir- (to cook) is technically a causative of piş-, but it is treated as a base verb, leading to pişir-t- when you want to say "have something cooked."

3. The Role of the Intermediary:
In these sentences, the person who is told to delegate the task (the intermediary) is typically marked with the dative case (-a/-e). However, if both the intermediary and the final doer are explicitly named, Turkish avoids 'dative stacking' by marking the final doer with the dative case and the intermediary with the ablative case (-dan/-den) or the word aracılığıyla (by means of).

4. Nuance:
While grammatically it implies three parties (Subject → Intermediary → Doer), it is often used even if the intermediary isn't named, simply to emphasize the subject's high status or the indirect nature of the action.