Faire causatif
Faire + infinitive is how French expresses 'to have / make / get someone to do something'. It's one of the constructions where French is much more compact than English: where English wires together a main verb plus a clause ('I had the mechanic repair my car'), French just chains faire + the action verb ('Je fais réparer ma voiture'). The construction is very common in everyday speech and writing — it covers everything from delegating tasks (je fais nettoyer mes chemises = I get my shirts cleaned) to causing emotional reactions (ça me fait rire = that makes me laugh) to provoking actions (il l'a fait pleurer = he made her cry). Knowing where to place pronouns and how the agreement works is what separates the textbook student from the fluent speaker.
Basic shape — faire + infinitif
faire is conjugated; the second verb stays in the infinitif. Je fais réparer ma voiture. = I'm getting my car repaired. Elle a fait construire une maison. = She had a house built. Nous ferons venir un médecin. = We'll have a doctor come. The thing acted upon (the patient) goes after both verbs: faire + INF + OBJET. The person performing the action (the agent) is introduced by par or à: Je fais réparer ma voiture par le mécanicien. = I'm having my car repaired by the mechanic. Il fait écrire la lettre à son secrétaire. = He has the letter written by his secretary. (Use par when there's any risk of ambiguity — à can also mean 'to'.)
Translating into English — three flavors
French faire causatif covers what English splits into 'have', 'get', and 'make'. (a) Have / get done (delegated action): Je fais couper mes cheveux. = I'm getting my hair cut. Elle fait laver sa voiture. = She has her car washed. (b) Make someone do something (compulsion): Le professeur fait travailler les élèves. = The teacher makes the students work. (c) Cause an emotional/physical reaction: Tu me fais rire. = You're making me laugh. Cette musique me fait pleurer. = This music makes me cry. The same French structure handles all three; the English translation depends on context.
Pronoun placement — before faire
Object pronouns go BEFORE faire, never between faire and the infinitive. Je fais réparer ma voiture. → Je la fais réparer. = I'm having it repaired. Il fait pleurer sa sœur. → Il la fait pleurer. = He's making her cry. With a compound tense, the pronoun still goes before faire: Je l'ai fait réparer. = I had it repaired. Il l'a fait pleurer. = He made her cry. Multiple pronouns also stack before faire: Je le lui fais lire. = I'm getting him to read it. The order inside the cluster is the same as in any other sentence (me/te/se/nous/vous > le/la/les > lui/leur > y > en).
No agreement on the participle of faire
When faire is in a compound tense in this construction, its past participle fait stays invariable — no agreement, ever. This is a deliberate exception to the normal rule. La voiture que j'ai fait réparer = the car I had repaired. NOT que j'ai faite. Les lettres qu'il a fait écrire = the letters he had written. NOT qu'il a faites. The reasoning: fait here is acting almost like an auxiliary, not a full lexical verb, so it doesn't agree. This rule was officialized by the Académie française and confirmed by the 1990 spelling reforms — even though some older texts and casual writers still occasionally agree it, the modern standard is always invariable.
se faire + infinitif — passive-like 'get yourself V-ed'
Reflexive se faire + infinitif means 'to get oneself V-ed' — used when the subject is the patient of the action, not the agent. Je me suis fait couper les cheveux. = I got my hair cut. Elle s'est fait voler son sac. = She got her bag stolen. Il s'est fait renvoyer. = He got himself fired. This is super common and idiomatic. Note: in this construction too, the participle fait does NOT agree, even though we're using être: Elle s'est fait voler, NOT faite. (The 1990 spelling reforms confirmed this — older writing might disagree.) The agent, when present, is introduced by par: Il s'est fait piquer par une abeille. = He got stung by a bee.
faire vs laisser — make vs let
The same syntactic frame — verb + infinitif + object — also exists with laisser + infinitive, meaning 'to let / allow someone to do something'. Je laisse mes enfants jouer dehors. = I let my children play outside. Il a laissé entrer le chien. = He let the dog come in. The contrast with faire: faire = make / cause (agent forces it); laisser = let / allow (agent permits it). Pronouns also go before laisser: Je les laisse jouer. = I let them play. Agreement on laissé is more flexible than on fait: traditionally it agrees with a preceding direct object (Je les ai laissés partir), but the 1990 reforms made it invariable like fait, and that's increasingly the modern standard. When in doubt, follow the fait rule: leave laissé invariable too.
Quick recap
(1) faire + infinitif = have / make / get someone do something. faire conjugates; the second verb stays infinitive. (2) Patient (thing affected) goes after the infinitive; agent (person doing) introduced by par or à. (3) Pronouns sit BEFORE faire, never between. (4) Past participle fait is invariable — no agreement. Same for se faire + infinitif. (5) laisser + infinitif = let / allow; same shape, contrast in meaning.
