The causative construction in French is somewhat self-explanatory. This kind of grammatical construction occurs when the subject causes something to happen rather than doing the action themselves.

So, for example, a causative construction would be needed if you are describing that someone else will do the action of the sentence besides the subject of the sentence. In English, the sentence “I am bringing my car to be washed” is a good example of this. The subject (I) is not washing the car him- or herself but is rather bringing it to the carwash to be done by someone who works there.

Because the French verb for “to do” or “to make” is faire, you will always need to include this verb in French causative sentences following the subject. Then you need to add the infinitive of the action verb that you are causing to have done. Finally, you must add the object of the sentence.

Thus, the formula you can use when creating causative constructions is:

Subject+(reflexive pronoun, if necessary)+conjugated form of faire+infinitive of action verb+direct object

Let’s take a look now at the different forms this can take.

I am getting my hair cut. Je me fais couper les cheveux. (Notice here that because the action is being done to the subject itself, this becomes a reflexive verb.

He is getting the car repaired. Je fais réparer la voiture.

I had a gift made. J’ai fait faire un cadeau.

I made Jean cook. J’ai fait cuisiner Jean.

Sometimes, if there is an indirect object then it would go before the conjugated form of faire in a causative sentence. The formula for this would be:

Subject+(reflexive pronoun, if necessary)+indirect object+conjugated form of faire+infinitive of action verb+direct object (if there is one)

An example of this form would be je leur ai fait faire un exercise. (“I had them do an exercise”) Notice how this sentence has both an indirect and a direct object; the indirect comes before the conjugated faire while the direct comes at the end of the sentence.

Can you think of any other examples of causative sentences? Include them in the comments below!