Je fais réparer ma voiture.I'm having my car repaired.

Faire followed directly by an infinitive doesn't mean "to do" or "to make" in the usual sense here — it means someone causes the action to happen, either by making another person do it or by arranging for it to be done. This is the causatif (causative). It's one compact construction covering two ideas that English usually needs different verbs for: "have something done" and "make someone do something."

Quick shortcut: faire + infinitive, with no que and no separate clause — the person actually doing the action, if named, comes after the infinitive, introduced by par or à.

The basic pattern

Just put the infinitive right after the conjugated form of faire — no que, no second verb to conjugate:

  • Je fais laver la voiture. (I'm having the car washed.)
  • Elle fait réviser le contrat par son avocat. (She's having the contract reviewed by her lawyer.)
  • Il fait pleurer son petit frère. (He makes his little brother cry.)
  • Vous faites rire tout le monde. (You make everyone laugh.)

One participant: the causee is the direct object of faire

When the infinitive itself has no expressed direct object, the person who performs the action — the "causee" — is simply the direct object of faire:

  • Elle fait travailler ses élèves. (She makes her students work.) — ses élèves is the direct object of faire, not of travailler.
  • Le professeur fait chanter les enfants. (The teacher has the children sing.)

Two participants: par or à for the person who does it

When the infinitive already has its own direct object (the thing being done), the causee can't also be a plain direct object — French would end up with two direct objects and no way to tell them apart. So the causee is introduced with par or à instead:

  • Je fais réparer ma voiture par le garagiste. (I'm having my car repaired by the mechanic.) — ma voiture is the direct object of réparer; le garagiste is the one doing the repairing.
  • J'ai fait lire ce livre à ma fille. (I had my daughter read this book.) — ce livre is what's read; ma fille is who reads it.

Par is generally the safer choice here, especially once the infinitive already involves an à-phrase of its own (a second à in the same sentence gets confusing about who's doing what to whom) — but with everyday infinitives like lire, écrire, or envoyer, à is common and natural too.

Where the object pronoun goes: right before faire

This is the part that catches learners out. With an ordinary modal-style verb like pouvoir, vouloir, or aller + infinitive, an object pronoun attaches to the infinitive it's really the object of — see object pronoun position. The causative doesn't follow that pattern: whatever the pronoun replaces, it goes right before faire, never before the infinitive.

  • Je fais réparer la voiture. → Je la fais réparer. (I'm having it repaired.) — never ❌ Je fais la réparer.
  • Elle fait chanter les enfants. → Elle les fait chanter. (She has them sing.)
  • J'ai fait lire ce livre à ma fille. → Je lui ai fait lire ce livre. (I had her read it.) — the à-introduced causee becomes an indirect object pronoun, still placed before faire.
  • Je fais réparer la voiture par le garagiste. → Je la fais réparer par lui. (I'm having it repaired by him.) — a par-introduced causee stays as par + a stressed pronoun; it's the voiture that turns into the clitic la before faire.

Common mistakes

  • ❌ Je fais la réparer. → ✅ Je la fais réparer. (the pronoun goes before faire, not before the infinitive — this is the opposite of the aller/pouvoir/vouloir/devoir rule)
  • ❌ Elle fait travailler à ses élèves. → ✅ Elle fait travailler ses élèves. (with only one participant, the causee is a plain direct object of faire — no à needed)
  • ❌ Je fais que mon fils range sa chambre. → ✅ Je fais ranger sa chambre à mon fils. (the causative uses faire + a bare infinitive, not faire que + a separate clause)
  • ❌ J'ai fait réparé la voiture. → ✅ J'ai fait réparer la voiture. (the second verb stays an infinitive — it never takes a past participle ending, even after avoir)

Quick check

Show answers
  1. Je fais couper mes cheveux. (I'm having my hair cut.) → replace mes cheveux with a pronoun: ____ → Je les fais couper.
  2. Elle fait visiter la maison ____ ses invités. (à / par — only one natural choice with visiter + a person) → à (Elle fait visiter la maison à ses invités.)
  3. (True or false) With faire + infinitive, an object pronoun attaches right before the infinitive, just like after pouvoir or vouloir. → False — it goes right before faire.
  4. Le bruit fait aboyer le chien. (The noise makes the dog bark.) → is le chien the direct object of faire or of aboyer? → of faire (the causee, since aboyer has no object of its own here)
  5. J'ai fait réparer la montre par l'horloger. → replace la montre with a pronoun, keeping par l'horloger as is: ____ → Je l'ai fait réparer par lui. (a par-introduced agent stays as par + a stressed pronoun — it can't become the clitic lui)

Key takeaways

  • Faire + infinitive (no que, no separate clause) is the causative — "have something done" or "make someone do something."
  • With one participant, the causee is the plain direct object of faire: Elle fait travailler ses élèves.
  • With two participants (the infinitive already has its own direct object), the causee is introduced by par or à: Je fais réparer la voiture par le garagiste.
  • An object pronoun in this construction goes right before faire, never before the infinitive — the opposite of the pattern after pouvoir, vouloir, devoir or aller.
  • The infinitive after faire always stays an infinitive, even in a compound tense like the passé composé (j'ai fait réparer, never j'ai fait réparé).