Causative Construction in French

In Brief

French uses a conjugated form of faire followed by an infinitive to express causing an action: Je fais réparer ma voiture means “I’m having my car repaired.” Use se faire + infinitive when the subject has something done to them or experiences an event: Elle se fait couper les cheveux (“She is getting her hair cut”). Only faire changes for tense and person; the following verb stays in the infinitive.

Overview

The French causative construction lets you say that someone does not perform an action directly but causes, arranges, permits, or forces it to happen. English often uses “have,” “get,” or “make”: faire livrer un colis is “to have a package delivered,” while faire rire les enfants is “to make the children laugh.” The exact English translation therefore depends on the situation rather than on a single fixed equivalent.

This construction is built around faire + infinitive. An infinitive is the basic, unconjugated form of a verb, such as réparer (“to repair”) or venir (“to come”). Although two verbs appear together, they function as one close unit: the form of faire identifies the tense and the person causing the event, while the infinitive names the event caused.

At B1, the essential goal is to produce everyday patterns such as faire réparer, faire construire, and se faire couper les cheveux. A complete understanding also requires knowing how to mention the person who actually performs the action, where object pronouns go, and why fait normally does not agree before an infinitive.

How It Works

The basic pattern

The simplest structure is:

subject + conjugated faire + infinitive + other information

In Je fais réparer ma voiture, je arranges the action, fais carries the present tense, réparer names the action, and ma voiture is what gets repaired. The sentence does not have to say who repairs it; context may make that obvious or irrelevant.

Meaning	French pattern	Example
arrange for something to be done	faire + infinitive + thing affected	Nous faisons nettoyer l'appartement.
cause or make someone act	faire + infinitive + person acting	Cette histoire fait rire Paul.
have something done to oneself	se faire + infinitive + thing affected	Je me fais couper les cheveux.

Only faire is conjugated. This remains true in every tense and mood:

Time or form	French	English
present	Je fais installer la fibre.	I am having fiber installed.
imperfect	Je faisais livrer les courses.	I used to have the groceries delivered.
compound past	J'ai fait réparer la porte.	I had the door repaired.
future	Je ferai vérifier le contrat.	I will have the contract checked.
conditional	Je ferais changer la date.	I would have the date changed.
command	Faites vérifier les freins.	Have the brakes checked.

The second verb never agrees with the subject and never receives a tense ending: elle fait construire, not elle fait construit or elle fait construise.

Who causes the action, who does it, and who receives it?

It helps to separate three possible roles:

• the causer, the person or thing that makes the event happen;
• the agent, the person who actually performs the action;
• the patient, the person or thing affected by the action.

In Léa fait réparer sa voiture par un mécanicien, Léa is the causer, the mechanic is the agent, and the car is the patient.

When the infinitive has no direct object (a word answering “whom?” or “what?” after the verb), its agent normally follows without a preposition:

• La professeure fait parler les étudiants. — The teacher gets the students to speak.
• Le film a fait pleurer mon frère. — The film made my brother cry.

When the infinitive already has a direct object, the agent is commonly introduced by à or par:

• La professeure fait lire le texte aux étudiants. — The teacher has the students read the text.
• Nous faisons réparer le toit par une entreprise locale. — We are having the roof repaired by a local company.

À is very common when the agent is a person receiving an instruction or being made to act. Par identifies the performer more explicitly and is especially natural for a hired professional or organization. In ordinary speech, French often leaves the agent unstated: Nous faisons réparer le toit is enough if the important point is the arrangement, not the contractor.

Se faire + infinitive

With se faire, the subject is affected by the infinitive. The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject:

Subject	Present	Compound past
je	je me fais examiner	je me suis fait examiner
tu	tu te fais photographier	tu t'es fait photographier
il / elle / on	il se fait aider	elle s'est fait aider
nous	nous nous faisons livrer	nous nous sommes fait livrer
vous	vous vous faites accompagner	vous vous êtes fait accompagner
ils / elles	ils se font vacciner	elles se sont fait vacciner

This pattern can describe something deliberately arranged: Je me fais livrer un repas (“I’m having a meal delivered”). It can also describe an unwanted event: Il s'est fait voler son téléphone (“He had his phone stolen”) or, with the object understood, Je me suis fait voler (“I got robbed”). Context tells you whether the subject chose the event.

With body parts, French normally uses the definite article rather than an English-style possessive: Elle se fait couper les cheveux, literally “She has the hair cut,” not normally ses cheveux in this construction.

Object pronouns

An object pronoun is a short word such as le (“him/it”), la (“her/it”), or lui (“to him/her”) that replaces a noun. In the causative construction, these pronouns normally stand before the conjugated faire, not before the infinitive:

• Je fais réparer la voiture. → Je la fais réparer.
• Je fais lire la lettre à Marc. → Je lui fais lire la lettre.
• Je fais lire la lettre à Marc. → Je la lui fais lire.

The two verbs behave as a unit for pronoun placement. English speakers may be tempted to place a pronoun next to the verb it logically belongs to, but standard French says Je la fais réparer, not Je fais la réparer.

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Je fais réparer ma voiture.	I’m having my car repaired.	The repairer is not mentioned.
Elle fait construire une maison près de Lyon.	She’s having a house built near Lyon.	An arranged service.
Nous faisons livrer les courses chaque vendredi.	We have the groceries delivered every Friday.	A regular arrangement.
Cette chanson fait danser tout le monde.	This song makes everyone dance.	The agent follows an intransitive infinitive directly.
Le professeur fait répéter la phrase aux élèves.	The teacher makes the students repeat the sentence.	La phrase is the object; aux élèves names the agents.
J'ai fait traduire le document par une collègue.	I had the document translated by a colleague.	Par explicitly identifies the performer.
Tu feras vérifier les freins avant le voyage.	You’ll have the brakes checked before the trip.	Future tense on faire.
Faites entrer les visiteurs, s'il vous plaît.	Ask the visitors to come in, please.	A common causative command.
Il s'est fait couper les cheveux hier.	He got his hair cut yesterday.	Deliberate personal service; definite article with a body part.
Je me fais livrer le déjeuner au bureau.	I have lunch delivered to the office.	Deliberately arranged with se faire.
Elle s'est fait voler son sac dans le métro.	She had her bag stolen on the metro.	An unwanted event.
Je me suis fait voler.	I got robbed.	The stolen item is left unstated.
Cette remarque les a fait rire.	That comment made them laugh.	Les is before the causative unit.
La directrice lui a fait refaire le rapport.	The director made him/her redo the report.	Lui represents the person doing the rewriting.
Nous la leur ferons parvenir demain.	We will have it sent to them tomorrow.	A more advanced combination of pronouns.

Common Mistakes

Conjugating the second verb

• Wrong: Elle fait construit une maison.
• Right: Elle fait construire une maison.
• Why: Only faire is conjugated. The verb naming the caused action remains an infinitive.

Copying English word order

• Wrong: Je fais ma voiture réparer.
• Right: Je fais réparer ma voiture.
• Why: French normally places the infinitive immediately after faire. English “have + object + past participle” does not map word for word onto French.

Putting an object pronoun before the infinitive

• Wrong: Je fais la réparer.
• Right: Je la fais réparer.
• Why: In a standard causative construction, the pronoun belongs before the conjugated form of faire because faire + infinitive acts as a close unit.

Using a possessive with a body part

• Less natural here: Il s'est fait couper ses cheveux.
• Natural: Il s'est fait couper les cheveux.
• Why: When the owner is already clear from the reflexive pronoun, French generally uses the definite article with body parts.

Making fait agree before an infinitive

• Wrong: Elles se sont faites couper les cheveux.
• Right: Elles se sont fait couper les cheveux.
• Why: The past participle fait is invariable when it is immediately followed by an infinitive. This rule also applies outside the reflexive pattern: Les chansons que j'ai fait écouter.

Treating se faire as always voluntary

• Misleading interpretation: Il s'est fait arrêter = “He arranged to be arrested.”
• Usual interpretation: Il s'est fait arrêter = “He got arrested.”
• Why: Se faire + infinitive can describe an accidental or unwelcome experience. The situation, not the grammar alone, shows whether it was intentional.

Usage Notes

Make, have, get, or cause?

French faire covers distinctions that English often expresses with different verbs. Le chef fait travailler son équipe suggests “makes/gets his team to work,” while le chef fait réparer l'ordinateur usually means “has the computer repaired.” Do not choose an English equivalent first and translate it mechanically. Identify who causes the event, who performs it, and what is affected.

A person as causer does not always imply force. Je fais venir le médecin normally means “I’m calling/getting the doctor to come,” not that the doctor is being compelled. Tone and context supply the degree of control.

Everyday service language

The construction is extremely common when discussing services: faire développer des photos, faire nettoyer un manteau, faire installer une chaudière, and se faire examiner. English may prefer a passive or “get/have something done,” but French repeatedly uses faire.

In conversation, on is a natural general or first-person-plural subject: On va faire changer la serrure can mean “We’re going to have the lock changed.”

Faire vs laisser

Do not confuse faire with laisser + infinitive. Faire causes or arranges an action; laisser allows it or does not prevent it:

• Je fais sortir le chien. — I make/take the dog out.
• Je laisse sortir le chien. — I let the dog go out.

The difference is one of causation versus permission.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

The agent with à and par

Real French does not reduce the choice between à and par to one absolute rule. Both can identify the performer when the infinitive has its own object, but they present that performer differently. Faire lire un texte aux étudiants treats the students as the people assigned the reading. Faire lire le texte par un comédien highlights the actor as the person carrying out the action. Leaving the performer unstated is often the most idiomatic solution when identity does not matter.

Some combinations can be ambiguous without context. Paul fait visiter le musée à Léa may be understood through the surrounding situation, but a clearer sentence may name roles more explicitly: Paul fait visiter le musée par un guide à Léa is heavy, so speakers often recast it, for example Paul demande à un guide de faire visiter le musée à Léa. Clarity is more valuable than forcing every participant into one causative chain.

Pronoun combinations and meaning

With a transitive infinitive, the agent introduced by à is represented by an indirect-object pronoun: Je fais écrire la réponse à Léa becomes Je lui fais écrire la réponse. The thing affected can also become a direct-object pronoun: Je la lui fais écrire (“I make/have her write it”). Such clusters are grammatical but can become hard to process; in speech, retaining one full noun often sounds clearer.

With an intransitive infinitive, the agent is direct: Je fais venir Léa → Je la fais venir. Compare this with Je lui fais écrire un message, where lui is used because un message is already the direct object of écrire.

Past participle agreement

The invariable form of fait before an infinitive is important in careful writing:

• Les robes qu'elle a fait retoucher — the dresses she had altered
• Elles se sont fait accompagner — they had someone accompany them / they were accompanied

There is no feminine or plural ending on fait in these examples. This is a specific rule for causative fait + infinitive, not a general statement that all past participles followed by infinitives are invariable.

Se faire as an alternative to the passive

French often uses se faire + infinitive where English uses “get + past participle”: Il s'est fait licencier (“He got fired”), Elle s'est fait remarquer (“She got noticed”), Ils se sont fait surprendre (“They were caught by surprise”). This construction often presents the event through the affected person’s experience. Depending on context, it may suggest involvement, lack of control, or an unfortunate consequence, but those shades of meaning are tendencies rather than automatic rules.

Do not assume that se faire and a passive with être are always interchangeable. Il a été arrêté neutrally reports an arrest; Il s'est fait arrêter more strongly frames it as something that happened to him and can sometimes imply that his behavior led to it.

Practice Tips

1. Build three-role sentences. Choose a causer, an action, and a patient: “Maya / repair / bicycle” → Maya fait réparer son vélo. Then add an agent only when useful: par un mécanicien.
2. Transform tense without touching the infinitive. Cycle one sentence through je fais, j'ai fait, je faisais, je ferai, and je ferais. Keeping réparer unchanged will make the structure automatic.
3. Collect real service phrases. When booking appointments or reading advertisements, note combinations such as faire livrer, faire installer, and se faire couper les cheveux. For each one, write whether the event is arranged, imposed, or unwanted.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Faire (to do/make) — review the present forms and common tenses of faire before building the causative construction.