Causative / Haben + Infinitive

To express that you caused an action, you use haben in the appropriate tense, followed by the infinitive of the main verb at the end of the clause. This keeps the focus on the action and the cause.

Use lassen when you emphasize permission or when someone actually does the action for themselves. Use haben when you emphasize arranging or causing the action to happen, often through a third party.

Machen + Infinitiv can sound more colloquial and sometimes focuses more on completing the action yourself. Use haben + Infinitiv for more neutral causative meaning or when an external agent is involved.

To highlight the result of an action caused by someone else, you can use the passive voice with werden + Partizip or use bekommen + Partizip for a more colloquial passive. This shifts attention from the causer to the action itself.

Use haben + Infinitiv to express causation or arranging an action, lassen for permission or when someone does the action themselves, and turn to passive constructions to highlight the action's result rather than the causer.

This guide provides a clear overview of causative constructions with haben + Infinitiv and related expressions so you can describe who causes or arranges actions in German.