FrenchVerbs, Sentence Structure French causative constructions are used when someone is directing somebody else to do something or when something is happening to someone by accident or by someone else’s choice.
In French causative constructions, we use the verbs faire and se faire (translated as "to make," "to have"), along with the infinitive of another verb. The infinitive describes the action the subject of faire / se faire causes or initiates indirectly. For example:
Tu t’es fait couper les cheveux ?
↳ You did not cut your own hair, but you indirectly caused your hair to be cut.
In a causative construction, there is always at least one noun, other than the subject, that is “made” to be involved in the infinitive action. This noun (or these nouns) can do the infinitive action (agent) or receive the infinitive action (receiver).
receiveragent
J’ai fait réparer ma voiture par Julien.
I’ve had my car fixed by Julien.
↳ Julien does the repair. The car undergoes the repair. I indirectly caused the repair to take place.
Causative, agent, receiver…these words will all become clear once you read about when to use these constructions and how they are formed. You’ll also find several links to grammatical topics you may need a refresher on and useful activities to help make sure it’s all understood.
Cet article vous fera tout comprendre !
This article will help you understand everything!
(Yep! This is a causative construction!)
What do causative constructions express in French?
Causative constructions are used to express when an action is completed by someone other than the subjectNo definition set for subjectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. There are three main scenarios:
Someone is having or making someone else do something, but that causer is not directly involved in the action they're causing.
Je me fais dormir les enfants.
I’m having the children sleep.
Someone is having or making someone else do something, and the "causer" is directly involved in the action they’re causing.
Je me fais teindre les cheveux.
This can mean either that the “causer” undergoes the action they’ve caused or that they’re making themself do it!
Something is happening to someone by accident or out of their own control.
La star s’est fait photographier dans la rue.
The celebrity had people photograph her in the street.
Causative constructions are used in French to translate some situations that you might not guess just by looking at the situations described above. For example:
Letting someone do something
The passive voice (though here you can also use the French passive voice)
se faireinfinitive
Je me suis fait critiquer !
Cooking instructions
faireinfinitive
Boil water.
(lit.) Make the water boil.
⤷ In French recipes, the verb can be given with the infinitive or with the imperative (as above)
Ok, you now know why and when we use causative constructions in French and what their equivalent is in English. Let’s see how they work!
How to form causative constructions in French?
Causative constructions are made of two main elements: a causative verbal structure and a secondary subject.
The causative verbal structure:
We actually already saw this above! faire / se faire + infinitive
We’ll talk a little more about how you’ll know when to use each one.
The secondary participant
The secondary participant is the object of faire, and it’s the noun that’s being “made” to be involved in the infinitive action. Every causative construction has at least one secondary participant, but that secondary subject can perform a couple different roles in the sentence, including:
An agent → someone or something that does the infinitive action
infinitivesecondary subject
Elle fera chanter la chorale.
She will have the chorus sing.
⤷ Here, the secondary participant is an agent: la chorale does the action.
A receiver → someone or something that undergoes the infinitive action
infinitivesecondary subject
Elle fera chanter l’hymne national (par la chorale).
She will have the chorus sing the national anthem.
⤷ Here, the secondary participant is a receiver: l’hymne national undergoes the action.
Sometimes, the secondary subject will be represented, instead, by a reflexive pronoun, as in:
secondary subjectinfinitive
Elle se fera chanter dans la scène.
She will have herself sing in the act.
⤷ Here, the reflexive pronoun se is the object of fera, so the reflexive pronoun itself is the secondary participant! Here, it’s an agent.
Let’s talk first about how to build different types of causative sentences around the verbs faire and se faire. Then we’ll talk a bit about some special rules for using pronouns in causative constructions.
How to use causative constructions with ‘faire’?
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.
J’ai fait peindre les murs.
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.
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.
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.
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).
The negation goes around faire: ne precedes faire and pas follows:
Elle ne fera pas changer les pneus.
She won’t have the tires replaced.
When être is conjugated with compound tenses like passé composé or futur proche, the negation will go around the first conjugated verb (or auxiliary verb).
Elle ne va pas faire changer les pneus.
She’s not going to have the tires replaced.
How to use causative constructions with ‘se faire’
We use causative constructions with se faire when the subject:
Purposely causes some action that they’re involved in to take place; OR
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.
Don’t forget that the French reflexive pronouns are: me(myself), te(yourself), se(him/her/it/oneself, themselves), nous(ourselves), and vous(yourselves). The reflexive pronoun you use should agree with the subject of the sentence.
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
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.
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).”
Do not forget faire!
I got a tattoo.
(lit.) I tattooed myself.
↳ Unless you are a tattoo artist, you can’t tattoo yourself!
✅ Je me suis fait tatouer.
When something owned/possessed by the subject is the receiver of the infinitive
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.
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.
Ces fleurs ? Je les ai fait livrer ce matin.
These flowers? I had them delivered today.
The negation goes around se faire: ne precedes se faire and pas follows:
Je ne me fais pas masser régulièrement.
I don’t get massages regularly.
When être is conjugated with compound tensesNo definition set for compound tensesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. like passé composé or futur proche, the negation will go around the first conjugated verb. The reflexive pronoun is used before an auxiliary but before the infinitive of faire when used with verbs like aller(to go) and modals.
Je ne me suis pas fait masser.
Je ne vais pas me faire masser.
I am not going to get a massage.
How to use pronouns inside the causative construction in French?
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 direct object pronounsNo definition set for direct object pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..
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!
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:
Je lui en ferai écouter quelques-unes.
I’ll have him listen to a few.
Bref: What to remember about causative constructions?
When using causative constructions in French, remember the following tips:
Two verbs are necessary to form causative constructions: (se) faire + infinitive.
The person or thing being “made” to be involved in the infinitive event directly follows the infinitive.
If both the receiver and agent are mentioned, add par or à before the agent.
There is no agreement with the past participle of faire.
Now, to make sure it’s all understood, read our top tips for causative constructions and head to our French causative constructions activities!
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