In short

The causative faire + infinitive says that the subject has something done by someone else rather than doing it personally: Je fais réparer ma voiture = “I am having my car repaired.” The key rule: faire and the infinitive stay glued together - the object never comes between them; only a negation word (pas), an adverb, or a pronoun in the affirmative imperative (Fais-le entrer !) can.

The rule

In the causative, faire is not the main action; it is a helper that means to cause / to have / to make something happen. The real action sits in the infinitive that follows it. Compare:

• Je construis une maison. = I build a house (myself).
• Je fais construire une maison. = I have a house built (by someone else).

The whole group faire + infinitive behaves like one verb. You cannot split it: the object of the action comes after the infinitive, not between the two verbs.

• Elle fait construire une maison. (not elle fait une maison construire)
• Nous faisons repeindre la cuisine. = We are having the kitchen repainted.

faire + infinitive: who does the action

When there is only one object (the thing acted on), it is a direct object:

• Je fais laver la voiture. = I have the car washed.
• Le professeur fait lire le texte. = The teacher has the text read.

When you also mention who performs the action, that person is introduced by à or par:

• Je fais laver la voiture à mon fils. / … par mon fils. = I have my son wash the car.
• Le professeur fait lire le texte aux élèves. = The teacher has the pupils read the text.

Use par to stress the agent (like the passive); à is the everyday choice but can be ambiguous when the sentence already has a dative.

laisser + infinitive

laisser (“to let / allow”) follows the same word order as faire, but the meaning is permission, not causation:

• Je laisse les enfants jouer dans le jardin. = I let the children play in the garden.
• Il laisse tomber son livre. = He drops (lets fall) his book.
• Ne me laisse pas partir. = Don’t let me leave.

With laisser you may keep the doer right after laisser (je laisse Marie conduire) - it is more flexible than faire.

se faire / se laisser + infinitive

The pronominal se faire + infinitive means the subject has something done to/for itself - often a near-passive:

• Elle s’est fait couper les cheveux. = She had her hair cut.
• Il s’est fait voler son portefeuille. = He got his wallet stolen.
• Je me suis fait construire une maison. = I had a house built for myself.

se laisser + infinitive means to let something happen to oneself:

• Il s’est laissé convaincre. = He let himself be convinced.

Agreement warning: the past participle fait in se faire + infinitive is invariable - it never agrees: elle s’est fait couper les cheveux (not faite).

Pronoun placement

Because faire + infinitive is one block, an object pronoun goes before faire, not before the infinitive:

• Je la fais réparer. = I have it repaired. (la = la voiture)
• Je les fais travailler. = I make them work.
• Il le lui a fait lire. = He had him/her read it.

In pronominal and se faire forms the reflexive pronoun also sits before the conjugated verb: elle se les est fait couper = she had them (her hair) cut. In the affirmative imperative, pronouns follow faire: Fais-le entrer ! = Have him come in!

Negation. ne … pas brackets the conjugated verb alone, never the pair: Je ne fais pas repeindre la chambre - and the same for ne … jamais, ne … plus. In a compound tense pas closes on the auxiliary, so fait and the infinitive stay together after it, and any object pronoun stays inside the bracket: Je ne l’ai pas fait repeindre.

Forms & patterns

faire is irregular; here it is across the main tenses, plus the invariable participle in the compound causative.

Object-pronoun position (the pronoun climbs onto faire):

Past-participle agreement of fait in the causative:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Je fais ma voiture réparer -> Je fais réparer ma voiture - the object comes after the infinitive; never split faire + infinitive.
• Je fais la réparer -> Je la fais réparer - the object pronoun goes before faire, not before the infinitive.
• Elle s’est faite couper les cheveux -> Elle s’est fait couper les cheveux - fait in se faire + infinitif is invariable.
• J’ai faite réparer la voiture -> J’ai fait réparer la voiture - same invariability with plain faire + infinitif.
• Ça me fait à rire -> Ça me fait rire - faire takes the infinitive directly, with no preposition.
• Il laisse les enfants à jouer -> Il laisse les enfants jouer - laisser + infinitive also takes no preposition before the infinitive.

Tips

• Test for the causative: if English says “have/get something done” or “make someone do”, French uses faire + infinitive.
• Keep faire and the infinitive together; think of them as a single verb with one meaning.
• Mark the doer with par to highlight the agent, à for the neutral “get someone to do it”.
• se faire + infinitive is your everyday way to say “I had my hair cut / I got robbed” - and remember fait never agrees.
• Pronouns climb: je le fais réparer, je l’ai fait réparer, fais-le réparer.
• laisser = permission, faire = causation - same structure, different force.