French grammar · Intermediate
Faire Plus Infinitive: How to Say You Are Having Something Done in French
Faire followed straight by an infinitive means you are not doing the action yourself, you are arranging for it to be done: je fais repeindre la cuisine, I'm having the kitchen repainted. The same structure also covers making someone do something, as in il m'a fait attendre.
Je fais réparer ma voiture demain.
I'm having my car repaired tomorrow.
What it is
English needs two different structures for I repaired the car and I had the car repaired. French needs only one extra word. Slot faire in front of the infinitive and the sentence stops being about what you did and starts being about what you caused to happen. The pair behaves as a single verb, which explains the word order that follows.
Nous faisons construire une maison. — We're having a house built.
How to spot it
Whenever faire is immediately followed by another verb in the infinitive with nothing between them, you are looking at this construction, and the subject is the person organising rather than the person acting.
- Elle fait nettoyer son manteau. — She's having her coat cleaned.
- Le professeur fait lire les élèves. — The teacher gets the pupils to read.
- Tu me fais rire. — You make me laugh.
- Ils ont fait venir un médecin. — They called a doctor out.
Nothing may come between faire and the infinitive, not even an object pronoun. Any pronoun jumps in front of faire instead.
Faire + Infinitive Quick Reference
The two readings of faire plus infinitive
| Sentence | Reading | English |
|---|---|---|
| Je fais laver la voiture. | have it done | I'm having the car washed. |
| Je fais travailler les enfants. | make someone act | I'm getting the children to work. |
| Il fait construire une piscine. | have it done | He's having a pool built. |
| Elle m'a fait attendre. | make someone act | She kept me waiting. |
| On a fait venir la police. | have it done | We called the police out. |
| Ce film fait pleurer tout le monde. | make someone act | That film makes everyone cry. |
| Je me fais couper les cheveux. | have it done to you | I'm getting my hair cut. |
Common Faire + Infinitive Examples in French
The construction in the situations where you will need it:
Paying Someone to Do It
- Nous avons fait repeindre le salon.
- We had the living room repainted.
- Elle fait livrer ses courses.
- She has her shopping delivered.
- Je vais faire installer la fibre.
- I'm going to have fibre installed.
- Ils font traduire le contrat.
- They're having the contract translated.
This is the everyday sense. The person doing the work usually goes unmentioned.
Making Someone Do Something
- Le film m'a fait pleurer.
- The film made me cry.
- Il fait travailler son équipe le week-end.
- He makes his team work at weekends.
- Cette histoire me fait penser à mon oncle.
- That story reminds me of my uncle.
- Ne me fais pas répéter.
- Don't make me repeat myself.
Faire penser à is the standard way to say something reminds you of something.
Summoning and Sending For
- On a fait venir un serrurier.
- We got a locksmith out.
- Le patron m'a fait appeler.
- The boss sent for me.
- Elle a fait monter les valises.
- She had the suitcases brought up.
- Faites entrer le candidat suivant.
- Show the next candidate in.
Faire venir and faire entrer are the normal ways to say send for and show in.
Naming Who Does the Work
- J'ai fait relire le texte par un collègue.
- I had the text proofread by a colleague.
- Elle fait ranger la chambre à son fils.
- She gets her son to tidy the bedroom.
- Le juge a fait signer le document aux deux parties.
- The judge had both parties sign the document.
- On fera goûter le plat aux enfants.
- We'll get the children to taste the dish.
Use par when the doer is incidental and à when you are pointing at a specific person who was told to act.
How the Causative Is Put Together
Faire and the infinitive behave as one unit, and every unusual thing about the structure follows from that.
Nothing Separates Faire From the Infinitive
The two verbs sit side by side and any object comes after them both. This is the opposite of what English does, where the object goes in the middle: I had the car repaired.
Il fait réparer la machine.
He's having the machine repaired.
faire + infinitive + object.
Pronouns Go in Front of Faire
Because the pair counts as one verb, an object pronoun cannot slip between them. It moves to the front, ahead of faire, exactly as it would with a single conjugated verb.
Je la fais réparer.
I'm having it repaired.
la fais réparer, never fais la réparer.
The Doer Takes À or Par
If you name the person who carries out the action, they follow the object. À suggests you are directing that specific person; par is neutral and is safer when the sentence already contains an à.
J'ai fait corriger la lettre par ma sœur.
I had the letter corrected by my sister.
object first, then à or par.
Fait Never Agrees
In this construction the participle fait is invariable, even when a feminine or plural direct object comes before it. This is one of the few places French suspends the agreement rule entirely.
La maison que j'ai fait construire est petite.
The house I had built is small.
fait construire, always fait.
Negation Wraps Faire Only
Ne and pas go around the conjugated form of faire and leave the infinitive outside, since the infinitive is not the verb carrying the person.
Je ne fais pas livrer mes courses.
I don't have my shopping delivered.
ne + faire + pas + infinitive.
Common Mistakes with Faire + Infinitive
Incorrect: Je fais la voiture réparer. — I'm having the car repaired.
Correct: Je fais réparer la voiture. — I'm having the car repaired.
English puts the object between have and the participle, and that order gets copied straight across. In French faire and the infinitive are inseparable, so the object waits until after both.
Incorrect: Je fais la réparer. — I'm having it repaired.
Correct: Je la fais réparer. — I'm having it repaired.
The pronoun belongs to the whole verb group, not to the infinitive alone, so it goes in front of faire. The only exception is an affirmative imperative: fais-la réparer.
Incorrect: Les portes que j'ai faites peindre sont sèches. — The doors I had painted are dry.
Correct: Les portes que j'ai fait peindre sont sèches. — The doors I had painted are dry.
Fait followed by an infinitive never agrees, even with a preceding feminine plural object. The rule is worth memorising because every other participle in the same position would agree.
Incorrect: Elle s'est faite couper les cheveux. — She got her hair cut.
Correct: Elle s'est fait couper les cheveux. — She got her hair cut.
The same invariability applies in the reflexive version. Se is not a direct object here, and fait is followed by an infinitive, so no feminine -e appears.
The Causative Conjugated
Only faire is conjugated; the second verb never moves. Notice vous faites in the present, which is one of the three French verbs with an irregular -tes ending.
Faire réparer Across the Tenses
The infinitive réparer is fixed. Everything that changes is happening to faire.
| Pronoun | présent | passé composé | futur simple | conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | fais réparer | ai fait réparer | ferai réparer | ferais réparer |
| tu | fais réparer | as fait réparer | feras réparer | ferais réparer |
| il / elle / on | fait réparer | a fait réparer | fera réparer | ferait réparer |
| nous | faisons réparer | avons fait réparer | ferons réparer | ferions réparer |
| vous | faites réparer | avez fait réparer | ferez réparer | feriez réparer |
| ils / elles | font réparer | ont fait réparer | feront réparer | feraient réparer |
Nous faisons is pronounced with the vowel of je, not of fait. The spelling is misleading here.
Se Faire plus Infinitive
Adding a reflexive pronoun turns the structure round: the subject is now the one the action is done to. As a pronominal verb it takes être in compound tenses.
| Pronoun | présent (se faire couper les cheveux) | passé composé |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | me fais couper les cheveux | me suis fait couper les cheveux |
| tu | te fais couper les cheveux | t'es fait couper les cheveux |
| il / elle / on | se fait couper les cheveux | s'est fait couper les cheveux |
| nous | nous faisons couper les cheveux | nous sommes fait couper les cheveux |
| vous | vous faites couper les cheveux | vous êtes fait couper les cheveux |
| ils / elles | se font couper les cheveux | se sont fait couper les cheveux |
Fait stays invariable throughout: elle s'est fait couper les cheveux, with no feminine ending.
Se Faire Plus Infinitive
The reflexive version is extremely common in speech and covers two quite different ideas, one deliberate and one accidental.
Arranging something for yourself
You organise a service and you are the one it happens to. This is how French talks about haircuts, tattoos, operations, and deliveries.
- Je me fais opérer la semaine prochaine.
- I'm having an operation next week.
- Elle s'est fait tatouer une étoile.
- She got a star tattooed.
- Nous nous faisons livrer tous les vendredis.
- We have things delivered every Friday.
- Tu devrais te faire rembourser.
- You should get a refund.
Se faire rembourser and se faire soigner are worth learning as blocks; they come up constantly.
Something unwanted happening to you
With no intention on the subject's part, se faire plus infinitive becomes the everyday equivalent of an English passive, usually for bad news.
- Il s'est fait renvoyer.
- He got fired.
- Je me suis fait voler mon téléphone.
- I had my phone stolen.
- Elles se sont fait arrêter par la police.
- They got stopped by the police.
- Fais attention, tu vas te faire écraser.
- Be careful, you'll get run over.
The context alone separates the deliberate reading from the accidental one; the grammar is identical.
Laisser, voir and entendre behave the same way
Three other verbs take a bare infinitive in the same pattern, with the pronoun in front and no preposition.
- Laisse-moi finir.
- Let me finish.
- Je l'ai vu partir.
- I saw him leave.
- On les entend chanter tous les matins.
- We hear them singing every morning.
- Elle a laissé tomber son verre.
- She dropped her glass.
Unlike fait, the participles laissé, vu and entendu can agree in some cases, which is a separate rule.
Faire + Infinitive FAQs
- How do you say I'm having something done in French?
- Put faire in front of the infinitive and the object after both: je fais réparer mon ordinateur, I'm having my computer repaired. If the thing is already known, replace it with a pronoun in front of faire: je le fais réparer.
- What is the difference between je répare and je fais réparer?
- Je répare means you are doing the work with your own hands. Je fais réparer means someone else does it and you arranged it. French marks that difference with a single extra word where English changes the whole structure.
- Where do object pronouns go with faire plus infinitive?
- In front of faire, because the two verbs form one unit. Je le fais nettoyer, il me l'a fait répéter. The only place they follow is an affirmative imperative, as in fais-le venir.
- Does the past participle fait agree in this construction?
- No, never. La lettre que j'ai fait taper keeps fait unchanged even though the object is feminine and comes first. This exception applies only when fait is immediately followed by an infinitive.
- What does se faire plus infinitive mean?
- That the action happens to the subject. Je me fais couper les cheveux is I'm getting my hair cut, deliberately, while je me suis fait voler mon sac is my bag was stolen, which nobody arranged. Context tells the two apart.