Faire Causative
Faire + an infinitive is called the faire causative. It translates
to "have something done by someone or cause something to be done by someone,"
or "to cause someone to do something."
Je répare la voiture. I'm fixing the car.
Je fais réparer la voiture. I'm having the car fixed.
Il peint son appartement. He's painting his apartment.
Il fait peindre son appartement. He's having his apartment
painted.
Le bébé mange. The baby is eating.
Elle fait manger le bébé. She's feeding the baby.
When replacing the object with a pronoun, the pronoun precedes faire. And
in past tenses, the past participle remains invariable.
Je la fais réparer. I'm having it fixed.
Il leur a fait apprendre les verbes. He had them learn the verbs.
Il les leur a fait apprendre. He had them learn them.
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages