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Causative / Faire + Infinitive

Spoken Description

Explore how to form and use the faire + infinitive causative structure in French to indicate 'make' or 'have' someone do something. Covers conjugation, agreement, and common usage. Practice with clear examples and exercises.

Explore how to form and use the faire + infinitive causative structure in French to indicate 'make' or 'have' someone do something. Covers conjugation, agreement, and common usage. Practice with clear examples and exercises.

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La construction causative faire + infinitif permet d'exprimer qu'une personne incite ou cause une autre à faire quelque chose, ou qu’elle provoque la réalisation d’un événement. Ce guide explique comment l’utiliser avec des exemples clairs.

The causative construction faire + infinitive lets you express that someone causes another person to do something or causes an event to happen. This guide breaks down how to use it with clear examples.

Usage

Utilisez faire + infinitif lorsque vous souhaitez dire que vous arrangez, incarnez ou faites en sorte qu’une autre personne réalise une action. La personne qui effectue l’action est nommée ou sous-entendue.

Use faire + infinitive when you want to say that you arrange, commission, or cause someone else to perform an action. The person who does the action is named or implied.

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Form

The construction is faire conjugated + either the infinitive of the main verb or sometimes a passive form, depending on whether you specify the agent.
Tu(faire) écrire la lettre par Marie.

You have Marie write the letter.

Combine faire with the infinitive (to write) for 'tu'.

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Examples

Person Specified

When you name the person who does the action, use faire + infinitive and place the agent after the infinitive when needed.

Person Not Specified

When the agent is not mentioned, French often uses the passive voice or leaves the agent out with faire + infinitive to focus on the caused action.

Passives

Pour insister sur le fait qu’une action a été effectuée, indépendamment de qui l’a faite, utilisez faire + le participe passé ou la voix passive. Ceci est courant dans les rapports ou contextes formels.

To emphasize that an action was done rather than who did it, use faire + past participle or the passive voice. This is common in reports and formal contexts.

Double Infinitive

After modal verbs or when faire itself is caused by another action, you may see two infinitives in a row. This happens in constructions with verbs like vouloir, pouvoir, or devoir.

Summary

The causative faire + infinitive lets you express that you cause someone to act, with flexibility to name the agent or use passive forms for neutrality. Practice switching between named agents and passives.

Key Verbs

Other verbs like laisser, faire and envoyer can be used in similar causative constructions, each adding a nuance of permission, causation, or instruction.
French VerbEnglish Verb
faireto make / to have (someone do something)
laisserto let / to allow
envoyerto send (to cause to go)
demanderto ask (to cause to do)
permettreto permit / to allow
obligerto force / to oblige
Le professeur(to allow) les élèves à partir plus tôt.

The teacher allows the students to leave early.

Use the verb that means 'to allow' in a causative phrase.

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