Faire + infinitive: have something done in French
Say who arranges a repair, who carries it out and what is repaired. Compare faire + infinitive with doing the job yourself, then try four questions.
In short
Use conjugated faire + an infinitive to arrange or cause an action: Je fais réparer mon vélo means “I’m having my bike repaired”. Conjugate faire for the person and time; keep réparer in the infinitive. Another person carries out the repair.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Who arranges the repair, and who does it?
Je répare mon vélo.I repair my bike.
Focus: I do the work.
Je répare mon vélo dans le garage.
I repair my bike in the garage.
Je fais réparer mon vélo.I have my bike repaired.
Focus: I arrange the work.
Je fais réparer mon vélo par Nora.
I have my bike repaired by Nora.
| French sentence | Arranger or cause | Performer | Thing affected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nora fait réparer son vélo par Malik. | Nora | Malik | her bike |
| Nous faisons imprimer les affiches. | we | the printer is unnamed | the posters |
| Cette histoire fait rire les enfants. | the story | the children | no separate object |
With faire rire, English “make” fits: the story makes the children laugh. With a service such as a repair, “have something done” fits. Choose the English wording from the action: faire covers practical arrangements and reactions as well as instructions.
How do you say “have something done” in French?
Have it repaired, altered or printed
Find:
How do you form faire + infinitive?
| Subject / time | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| I, present | Je fais réparer le vélo. | I’m having the bike repaired. |
| we, present | Nous faisons réparer le vélo. | We’re having the bike repaired. |
| she, future | Elle fera réparer le vélo. | She will have the bike repaired. |
| I, compound past | J’ai fait réparer le vélo. | I had the bike repaired. |
The performer can be named with par: Je fais relire ce rapport par Nora. In Je fais lire ce texte à Nora, Nora is the reader. The text is what she reads. These two models keep the job and the person doing it distinct.
Les affiches, nous les avons fait imprimer hier.
The posters: we had them printed yesterday.
Before an infinitive, fait stays unchanged, including after feminine plural les.
Les affiches ont été imprimées hier.
The posters were printed yesterday.
The passive puts the posters first and leaves the arranger unnamed. Nous avons fait imprimer les affiches identifies who arranged the printing.