How to use causative constructions in French?

We use causative constructions with faire in situations where the subject makes someone else do something or makes something happen, but the subject is not directly involved in the action.

There are three main ways to use a causative construction with faire. Each follows a slightly different pattern:

• With a receiver only

  You are causing someone or something to undergo a change, but you’re not saying who directly caused that change.

  subject

  faire

  infinitive

  receiver

  J’ai fait peindre les murs.

  I had the walls painted.

  Notice that in the example above, the walls undergo the action (painting). I didn’t do the painting myself, but I also don’t say who did do the painting.

• With an agent only

  You are making someone do something, but you’re not saying who or what they did it to.

  subject

  faire

  infinitive

  agent

  Le babysitter a fait manger les enfants.

  The babysitter had the children eat.

  Notice that in the example above, the babysitter made the children do something (eat) but we don’t say what they ate.

• With both an agent and a receiver

  You are making someone do something and you’re saying who or what they did it to.

  subject

  faire

  infinitive

  receiver

  par/à + agent

  Les voisins ont fait garder leur chat par notre fils.

  The neighbors had our son look after their cat.

  Elle va faire faire la décoration par des professionnels.

  She’s going to have the decoration done by professionals.

  Important

  When should you use par vs. à? When you describe the agent with a clause introduced by que(that), the agent is introduced by the preposition à instead of par.

  J’ai fait croire à mes amis que j’étais encore au cinéma !

  I made my friends believe that I was still at the movie theater!

  Just don’t forget, any time you are using both a receiver and an agent after the causative verb, the agent is marked by a preposition! This is different from sentences that only have a receiver, where the preposition is not needed.

Causative constructions can be conjugated in all tenses and moods, so a good thing to do is learn or review the different forms of the verb faire(to do).

We use causative constructions with se faire when the subject:

• Purposely causes some action that they’re involved in to take place; OR

• Experiences an accident.

In both cases, the subject is somehow involved in the action described by the infinitive verb. The reflexive pronoun is necessary because it represents the role that the subject of the sentence plays in the action described by the infinitive verb.

There are a few different ways to build a causative construction with se faire. Let's have a look!

• When the subject is the receiver of the infinitive

  subject

  se faire

  infinitive

  par + agent

  Il s’est fait gronder.

  He was scolded.

  Il s’est fait arrêter par la police.

  She’s going to have the decoration done by professionals.

  In these sentences, the reflexive pronoun is the receiver of the action and is the secondary subject of the sentence!

  The agent should always be marked by par.

  Tip

  Remember how these kinds of causatives can have more than one meaning? The translations above imply that each situation was an accident, but the same sentence can also be used if the subject did something on purpose that led to the event. You might just as well translate these sentences as: “He got himself scolded” or “He got himself pulled over (by the police).”

  ImportantWatch out for this common mistake!

  Do not forget faire!

  ❌ Je me suis tatoué.

  I got a tattoo.

  lit. (lit.) I tattooed myself.

  ↳ Unless you are a tattoo artist, you can’t tattoo yourself!

  ✅ Je me suis fait tatouer.

  I got a tattoo.

• When something owned/possessed by the subject is the receiver of the infinitive

  subject

  se faire

  infinitive

  receiver

  par + agent

  Il se fera rembourser l’article.

  He will have his item refunded.

  Je me suis fait vernir les ongles par Cynthia.

  I had my nails polished by Cynthia.

• The subject of the sentence is also the agent of the infinitive

  This usually means that you’re making yourself do something or you’re arranging for yourself to be responsible for doing something.

  subject

  se faire

  infinitive

  receiver

  Elle se fera chanter la chanson.

  She will have herself sing the song.

Here’s some good news about forming causative constructions with se faire! The past participle of the verb (se) faire never changes its form, even when conjugated in the past, because it is followed by an infinitive verb.

When replacing the nouns inside a French causative construction with pronouns, you’ll usually use French object pronouns, but sometimes you’ll need to use stressed pronouns instead.

Here’s what those different pronouns look like:

Here’s when to use each kind:

• When replacing the secondary participant of a causative, use .

  Remember, the secondary participant is always the object of the verb faire, even if it performs the action of the infinitive verb. Let’s take a look:

  J’ai fait peindre les murs. → Je les ai fait peindre.

  I had the walls painted. → I had them painted.

  Je me suis fait couper les cheveux. → Je me les suis fait couper.

  I had my hair cut. → I had it cut.

  J’ai fait peindre les enfants. → Je les ai fait peindre.

  I had the children paint. → I had them paint.

  ↳ Yes! We use the direct object pronoun even though the children are doing the painting! This is because the children are still the direct object of faire.

  Do you notice? Two of the sentences look the same when you replace the secondary participant with a pronoun!

  Je les ai fait peindre.

  I had them painted OR I had them paint.

  In French, you’ll need to use context to decide what someone means here. It’s just not as clear as in English!

• When replacing an agent that is not the secondary participant (i.e. it follows a preposition) there are two options.

  If the agent is introduced by à in the original sentence, you’ll use an indirect object pronoun instead.

  direct objectinfinitive

  J’ai fait peindre les murs aux enfants. → Je les leur ai fait peindre.

  I had the children paint the walls. → I had them paint them.

  If the agent is introduced by par in the original sentence, you’ll instead use par + stressed pronoun. You can’t par + noun phrase with an indirect object pronoun.

  direct objectstressed pronoun

  Il s’est fait raconter l’histoire par son grand-père. → Il se l’est fait raconter par lui.

  He had the story told by his grandfather. → He had it told by him.

  When there’s more than one object pronoun before (se) faire, here is the order you should use:

  me / te / nous / vous

  le / la / les

  lui / leur

  y / en

  Je lui en ferai écouter quelques-unes.

  I’ll have him listen to a few.