Causative verbs
Causative verbs or indirect verbs with varied forms like magpa-, ipa-, or pa-in are somehow hard to learn due to their diversity in usage and grammatical complexity which comes with their focus.
As the term causative or indirect indicate, the way these verbs add to the semantic or the nuance can be quite varying and not to be explained by a clear or an unified simple rule, depending on the root word and the context.
For quite a while I had hard time to practically use those so called causative verbs, being confused with that frequently-appearing sound of pa, pinapa or even pinag. The tricky thing is they don’t seem to be simply mapped into English version like let, make, or have. Some verbs may develop its own semantic characteristics with causative affixes such as magpa-, ipa-, or pa-in, and some may evolve into idioms as well.
For beginners, therefore, it seems better to start just with easy yet practically-useful examples, and eventually ensures that you are actually able to use them and understand them. This post briefly examines such verbs especially affixed with magpa- among all.
Examples of magpa- verbs
Let us explore some practical examples.
| magpabili | ask someone to buy |
| magpagupit | get a haircut |
| magpalinis | ask someone to clean |
| magpatingin | ask someone to see/examine |
| magpagawa | ask someone to make |
Nagpabili ako ng tinapay.
I had someone buy bread for me.
This indicates that the speaker did not buy the bread themselves but asked someone else to do it on their behalf.
In causative constructions, an action or state expressed by the verb root (such as bili “to buy”) is realized through two participants: the one who gives the instruction (the causer) and the one who carries it out (the causee). With magpa-, the causer is the grammatical focus.
In this example, ako (“I”) is the causer, while the causee is not specified. When the identity of the person who did the buying is not important, it can simply be left unstated. Tagalog generally allows such economy of expression, which seems to be a good point to start from for learners.
Nagpabili ako ng tinapay sa kanya.
I had him/her buy bread for me. (or I asked him/her to buy bread.)
When the causee is specified, it is marked with a sa-phrase, as in this example. (With intransitive verbs, the causee is marked with an ng-phrase, but that point will be discussed in another post.)
Nagpabili ako sa anak ko ng atay ng manok kaso wala na sya bilhan.
I asked my child to buy chicken liver, but there was nowhere left to buy it.
This came from an actual Facebook post, reflecting real or natural usage. Here, kaso means “but / however,” and bilhan refers to a place where something can be purchased.
As this example shows, by linking clauses with words such as kaso or pero, speakers can also express that the action was not successfully achieved, using the same magpa- verb.
Kailangang ko nang magpagupit.
I need to get a haircut.
Here, the causative form is used to express that the speaker will have someone else cut their hair. The actual person who performs the action (the causee) may be a barber or anyone else, and does not need to be specified. Again, this optionality seems to be a key to natural conversation.
If the speaker does wish to specify the causee, they can do so with a sa-phrase (or kay when referring to a person by name), as shown below.
Nagpagupit ako kay Bob.
I had Bob cut my hair.
Seen from these examples, the intent is less on making someone do something, and more on achieving one’s own goal by asking someone else to help. Causative verbs are sometimes described as indirect verbs, a label that nicely captures their function (not really always, though).
Gusto kong magpalinis ng ngipin.
I’d like to get my teeth cleaned.
Since linis means “clean,” magpalinis expresses the idea of having something cleaned by someone else. The object of the action (ngipin: “teeth”) is marked with an ng-phrase.
In a dental context, “ng ngipin” can be safely omitted, since it is quite obvious.
Gusto ko pong magpalinis.
I’d like to have a cleaning (on my teeth).
Let’s explore a few more examples.
Magpatingin ka sa doktor.
You should go see a doctor.
Magpapatingin ako sa doktor dahil may masakit sa katawan ko.
I’m going to see a doctor because something in my body hurts.
These expressions indicate that you are asking a doctor to examine you. The verb root tingin means “to see” or “to look at,” and by extension “to examine.”
In a word-for-word sense, magpatingin sa doktor can be understood as “to ask a doctor to examine oneself,” with the object (“oneself”) left implicit.
Nagpagawa ako ng bagong tshirt kay Bob.
I had Bob make me a new T-shirt.
The best way to get comfortable with these causative expressions is thru practice. It will be good to try paying close attention to how they are used in real conversations, and use them yourself.
This post focused on magpa- constructions in which the speaker asks someone else to do something. There are, however, other patterns that also use magpa-, where the person being asked plays a much less active role and the speaker’s own actions carry more weight. These will be explored in a future post.
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