The causative construction fare / lasciare + infinitive
B2 La costruzione causativa fare / lasciare + infinito 48 / 53
In short
To say that you get someone else to do the action - have something done, make someone do, let someone do - Italian puts fare or lasciare right in front of an infinitive. fare = make / have (you impose the action); lasciare = let / allow (you permit it). The two verbs form one block, and the pronouns cling to fare / lasciare, never to the infinitive: Mi ha fatto aspettare, Te lo faccio ascoltare, Lascialo parlare.
The rule
In English you have a whole toolbox for this: make him wait, have the car repaired, get my hair cut, let her speak. Italian uses one tight pattern - a form of fare (to cause) or lasciare (to allow) glued to an infinitive.
Step 1 - Keep fare/lasciare + infinitive together, in that order. Nothing splits the pair. The infinitive comes immediately after the causative verb, and everything else - the person, the thing - follows the infinitive.
- Faccio lavorare i bambini. (I make the children work.)
- Ho fatto riparare la macchina. (I had the car repaired.)
- Lascio dormire Marco. (I let Marco sleep.)
Step 2 - Mark the causee (the person made or let to act). This depends on whether the infinitive already has its own direct object.
- No object on the infinitive -> the person is a plain direct object: Faccio lavorare Marco -> Lo faccio lavorare.
- The infinitive has its own direct object -> the thing is the direct object, and the person steps back to an indirect object marked with a: Faccio lavare la macchina a Marco (I have Marco wash the car) -> Gliela faccio lavare.
Step 3 - Use da to avoid ambiguity. When a could be read as a recipient rather than the doer, mark the doer with da instead: Ho fatto scrivere una lettera al direttore is ambiguous (to the director? by the director?), but Ho fatto scrivere una lettera dal direttore can only mean by the director. With a plain “have it done”, da names the agent: Ho fatto riparare la macchina dal meccanico.
Step 4 - Attach clitics to fare/lasciare. Treat fare + infinitive as a single verb: the pronoun goes wherever fare goes, not onto the infinitive. Before a conjugated fare it stands alone; onto an infinitive, imperative or gerund it attaches.
- Lo faccio entrare. / Voglio farlo entrare. / Fallo entrare! (never faccio entrarlo)
- Me lo fa ascoltare. / Fammelo ascoltare.
Step 5 - In compound tenses, fatto agrees like any participle. A direct lo/la/li/le before the auxiliary makes fatto agree, exactly as in step 30: Gliel’ho fatto fare. (I had him do it - it is lo), L’ho fatta riparare. (la macchina - so fatta).
lasciare works the same way and means let / allow: Ti lascio andare, Lascialo parlare, Lasciami vedere. It also has a second option - lasciare che + subjunctive: Lascia che ti aiuti (Let me help you) says the same as Lasciami aiutare.
farsi + infinitive is the reflexive twist: get / have something done to yourself. It takes essere, and (as with any reflexive) the participle agrees with the subject: Mi sono fatto tagliare i capelli (I got my hair cut), Maria si è fatta operare (Maria had an operation).
Forms & patterns
The two causative verbs - same shape, opposite force:
| Verb | Force | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| fare + infinitive | imposes the action | Mi fa aspettare. | He makes me wait. |
| lasciare + infinitive | permits the action | Mi lascia aspettare. | He lets me wait. |
How the causee is marked, depending on the infinitive’s object:
| The infinitive… | The person (causee) is… | Full noun | With clitics |
|---|---|---|---|
| has no direct object | a direct object | Faccio lavorare Marco. | Lo faccio lavorare. |
| has its own direct object | indirect, marked a / da | Faccio lavare la macchina a Marco. | Gliela faccio lavare. |
Where the clitic sits - it rides on fare, never on the infinitive:
| Form of fare | Clitic position | Example |
|---|---|---|
| conjugated (finite) | before fare, separate | Lo faccio entrare. |
| infinitive | attached to fare | Voglio farlo entrare. |
| imperative (tu) | attached to fare | Fallo entrare! |
| gerund | attached to fare | Facendolo entrare, ho capito. |
| compound tense | before the auxiliary; fatto agrees with a direct clitic | L’ho fatta entrare. |
Examples
- Mi ha fatto aspettare mezz’ora davanti al bar. He/She made me wait half an hour outside the bar.
- Ho fatto riparare la macchina dal meccanico. I had the car repaired by the mechanic.
- Ti faccio ascoltare la mia canzone preferita: te la faccio ascoltare adesso. I’ll play you my favourite song: I’ll play it for you now.
- La mamma fa mangiare le verdure ai bambini. Mum makes the children eat their vegetables.
- Gliel’ho fatto fare ieri, non preoccuparti. I had him do it yesterday, don’t worry.
- Lascialo parlare, per favore: ha ragione. Let him speak, please: he’s right.
- I miei genitori non mi lasciano uscire la sera. My parents don’t let me go out in the evening.
- Fammi vedere le foto delle vacanze! Let me see the holiday photos!
- Ci hanno fatto aspettare troppo a lungo. They made us wait too long.
- Mi sono fatto tagliare i capelli sabato. I got my hair cut on Saturday.
Common mistakes
- Faccio Marco lavorare. -> Faccio lavorare Marco. fare + infinitive is one block: the infinitive comes right after fare, and the person follows the infinitive - it never sits in the middle.
- Faccio aspettarla. -> La faccio aspettare. When fare is conjugated, the clitic goes before it, not onto the infinitive. Think of fare + infinitive as a single verb.
- Ho fatto riparare la macchina il meccanico. -> Ho fatto riparare la macchina dal (al) meccanico. Once the infinitive has its own object (la macchina), the doer can no longer be a bare noun - it takes da (or a).
- La macchina? L’ho fatto riparare. -> La macchina? L’ho fatta riparare. The causative follows the ordinary rule: a direct la before the auxiliary makes the participle agree - fatta, not fatto.
- Ti lascio di andare. -> Ti lascio andare. lasciare (like fare) takes a bare infinitive - no a, no di in between.
Tips
- fare = make/have, lasciare = let. Same construction, opposite meaning. Swap one for the other and the force flips: Mi fa lavorare (makes me work) vs Mi lascia lavorare (lets me work).
- Clitics ride on fare. The pronoun clings to the causative verb, never to the infinitive: Lo faccio entrare, Fallo entrare, Fammelo vedere - never faccio entrarlo.
- Two objects -> the person gets a (or da). As soon as the infinitive has its own thing to act on, the doer becomes indirect: Faccio lavare i piatti a Luca. Reach for da when a would be ambiguous: Faccio scrivere la lettera da Luca (by Luca).
- farsi + infinitive = “have it done to yourself”. Mi sono fatto tagliare i capelli, Si è fatta operare - reflexive, auxiliary essere, participle agreeing with the subject.