Lecture 6 (The Factitive) Flashcards
The owner has the grass cut (the owner does not cut the grass himself)
Le propriétaire fait couper son gazon.
I make the children learn grammar.
Je fais apprendre la grammaire aux enfants.
I am having two trees planted.
Je fais planter deux arbres.
I have (make) the children read.
Je fais lire les enfants
If one mentions both the subject and the object of the
infinitive…
…the direct object follows immediately the
infinitive and the subject is placed after the DO and is
preceded by the preposition “à” or “par”
e.g
• Il fait apprendre la grammaire (DO) aux étudiants
(subject)
• Je fais lire un livre (DO) aux enfants (subject)
Je fais lire un livre aux enfants.
English
the preposition ‘à’ is more ambiguous than ‘par’ so this sentence could be interpreted as both:
I make the children read a book
or
I’m making someone read to the children
Replace nouns with personal pronouns:
Je fais travailler la grammaire aux enfants
Je la leur fais travailler
Replace nouns with personal pronouns:
Faites travailler la grammaire aux enfants
Faites-la-leur travailler.
Replace nouns with personal pronouns:
Je fais réparer mon auto par le garagiste.
Je lui fais réparer mon auto
When a noun, subject of the infinitive introduced by “à”
or “par”, is represented by a personal pronoun, this
pronoun takes the form of an indirect object pronoun (me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur).
Je fais réparer deux autos.
J’en fais réparer deux.
When the noun object is introduced by partitive articles
(du, de la, des), by the indefinite plural (des) or by a
number, it is represented by the pronoun “en” instead.
Il fait photocopier des documents.
Il en fait photocopier.
He is having a house built (for himself)
Il se fait construire une maison.
When one wants to insists on the fact that the
action of the infinitive directly benefits the subject
of the verb “faire”, we use the reflexive pronoun
“se” in se faire + infinitive.
Cf. • Il a fait construire une maison. He is having a house built (maybe for someone else).
I have the lesson explained to me.
Je me fais expliquer la leçon.
I had them done
I did them.
Je les ai fait faire
Je les ai faits
The past participle of the verb “faire” used in
the construction “faire + infinitive” stays
invariable and does agree
Replace the underlined substantives by pronouns.
• 1. Marie fait faire la cuisine à son mari.
Marie la lui fait faire
Replace the underlined substantives by pronouns.
Nous faisons abattre un arbre.
Nous en faisons
abattre un.
He has his students discuss. He lets (allows) the students (to) discuss. (idea of acceptance, passivity)
Il fait discuter ses élèves
Il laisse discuter ses élèves.
The driver was made to get out of the car.
On a fait sortir le conducteur de la voiture.
The choir was made to rehearse for one hour.
On a fait répéter la chorale pendant une heure.
Why were we made to leave so early?
Pourquoi nous a-t-on fait partir si tôt?
We were made to wait 45 minutes.
On nous a fait attendre 45 minutes.
He is making his house into a museum (il transforme sa maison en musée).
Il fait de sa maison un musée
To mark the transformation of a substance (a noun or pronoun) into
another substance, we use the verb “faire” and the structure “faire
de quelque chose quelque chose”.
Snow makes the streets slippery
– La neige rend les rues glissantes.
If the idea of transformation affects the quality (adjective), we do
not use the verb “faire” but the verb “rendre”.
He got himself thrown out of school. I
Il s’est fait expulser/renvoyer de l’école.
He got himself elected.
Il s’est fait élire.
