Causative: have / get something done

Think about the difference between I cut my hair and I had my hair cut. The first sentence usually sounds as if you picked up the scissors yourself. The second clearly means someone else did it for you — a hairdresser, most likely — and you arranged it. English has a special structure for exactly this idea: arranging for someone else to do something for you. It's called the causative, and it's built from have or get + object + past participle.

• I had my hair cut yesterday. (a hairdresser cut it, not me)
• We're getting the house painted next month. (painters will do it)
• She has her nails done every Friday. (a beautician does them)

The core shape: have/get + object + past participle. The past participle always describes what happens to the object, and the person doing the actual work usually isn't even mentioned.

Why not just use the passive?

You already know the passive (my hair was cut — see Passive: present and past for that structure). The causative looks similar because it also uses a past participle, but it adds something the plain passive doesn't have: you are in the sentence, and the emphasis is on the fact that you arranged it, not just that it happened.

• My car was repaired. (passive — just describes what happened to the car; who arranged it isn't part of the meaning)
• I had my car repaired. (causative — I'm the one who took it in, paid for it, or asked for it to happen)

In practice, the causative almost always involves a service: something you pay for or arrange, rather than something that simply happened.

Have something done

Have + object + past participle is the standard, slightly more formal way to talk about a service arranged for you. It works in any tense — the time information is carried by the have verb phrase (with whatever auxiliaries that tense needs); the past participle stays the same.

• I have my teeth checked every six months. (present simple — a routine)
• I'm having my kitchen renovated at the moment. (present continuous — happening now)
• We had the windows cleaned last week. (past simple)
• She's had her photo taken for the new website. (present perfect)
• I'll have the report printed before the meeting. (future, with will)

Notice that only the have verb phrase changes form — serviced is not a tense form here, it just describes what happens to the car, and it stays exactly the same in every row. It's worth keeping this separate from ✅ I have serviced my car myself (present perfect, meaning you did the work), which is a completely different sentence from ✅ I have had my car serviced (causative, someone else did it).

Get something done

Get + object + past participle means almost exactly the same thing as have, and in everyday spoken English it's actually more common.

• I got my hair cut last week. (= I had my hair cut)
• We need to get the roof fixed before winter.
• She's getting her eyes tested next Tuesday.

The two small differences worth knowing:

• Get can add a sense of urgency, effort, or "finally making it happen" — especially with need to or must: ✅ I really need to get my brakes checked sounds more like a nagging task than ✅ I really need to have my brakes checked, though both are correct.
• Get is generally more informal, so it's the more natural choice in casual conversation, while have fits slightly more formal or written contexts.

For arranged services, the two are often interchangeable, and both follow the identical structure: have/get + object + past participle, with only the have/get verb phrase changing for tense.

Be careful: get something done has a second, unrelated meaning — "manage to finish something" — where the subject may well do the work personally: I finally got my homework done before midnight. This article focuses on the service/arrangement meaning above; context (usually whether a service or a task is involved) tells you which one is meant.

Negatives and questions

Negatives and questions are formed on have or get exactly the way you'd expect for any ordinary verb in that tense — using do/does/did for simple tenses, since have here behaves as a normal main verb, not the auxiliary have.

• I didn't have my bike repaired — I fixed it myself.
• Did you get your suit cleaned for the wedding?
• We haven't had the results checked yet.
• Are you getting your photos printed, or keeping them digital?

❌ I hadn't my bike repaired — ✅ I didn't have my bike repaired — in the causative, present-simple and past-simple negatives and questions need do/does/did, just like any other main verb, because this have isn't acting as an auxiliary here.

Talking about something unwanted happening to you

The same pattern — mostly with have, and sometimes with informal get — can also describe something unpleasant that happened to you, caused by another person, an organisation, or just an event or situation, rather than something you arranged. Context makes the meaning clear.

• We had our flight cancelled at the last minute. (nobody arranged this — it just happened, and it affected us)
• He had his wallet stolen on the train. (definitely not arranged!)
• She got her bag searched at the airport. (informal, unwanted)

This is a natural extension of the same pattern rather than a separate rule to memorise: the structure always means "something was done to my [thing]" — usually by arrangement, but sometimes as an unwelcome event outside your control.

Common mistakes

• ❌ I had cut my hair (to mean someone else cut it) → ✅ I had my hair cut. (the object — my hair — must go between have and the past participle, not after it; I had cut my hair is a real sentence, but it's past perfect and means you cut it yourself)
• ❌ I had my hair to cut. → ✅ I had my hair cut. (a past participle, never to + infinitive)
• ❌ I had my hair cutting. → ✅ I had my hair cut. (a past participle, not an -ing form)
• ❌ She has her nails do every week. → ✅ She has her nails done every week. (the past participle of do is done, not the base form do)
• ❌ I have serviced my car (meaning someone else did it) → ✅ I have had my car serviced. (without the causative had, this sentence means you did the servicing yourself)

Quick check

Rewrite each sentence using the causative (have or get) so it means someone else did the action for the subject.

1. A dentist checked my teeth last week. (I ___)
2. Someone is going to deliver the sofa tomorrow. (We're ___)
3. A tailor hasn't shortened my trousers yet. (I ___)
4. Did someone install your new kitchen? (___ your new kitchen ___?)

Key takeaways

• The causative — have/get + object + past participle — describes a service someone else does for you, usually one you arrange or pay for.
• The object always sits between have/get and the past participle: have my hair cut, never have cut my hair.
• Only have/get changes for tense; the past participle stays the same in every tense.
• Get is more informal and can add a sense of urgency or effort; have is slightly more formal — otherwise the two are interchangeable.
• Negatives and questions in simple tenses use do/does/did, since this have behaves as an ordinary main verb, not an auxiliary.
• The same structure can also describe an unwanted event that happened to you, not just something you arranged.