How to Make Someone do Something in Italian?
To say “make someone do something” in Italian, use fare + infinitive: Questo film mi ha fatto piangere (This movie made me cry). The person who does the action comes before fare as a pronoun: a direct pronoun when the infinitive has no object (La faccio uscire) and an indirect pronoun when it has one (Le faccio studiare storia). This lesson is about this construction. If you are looking for the verb fare itself, its conjugation and its meanings, read the lesson on the Italian verb fare.
In linguistics, this type of structure is called causative, because it indicates that a person or thing is causing another action to occur by someone or something else. Another example of causative structure is “to let“.
If you want someone to do something and want to “push” him or her to do it, in Italian you have to use the following structure:
fare + verb in the infinitive
For example: fare fare, fare mangiare, fare credere, fare vedere, etc.
The verb fare can, of course, be in any tense: past, present, or future, depending on what you want to say.
Let’s have a look at some examples:
La professoressa ha fatto scrivere un tema ai suoi studenti.
The teacher made her students write an essay.
Lei gli ha fatto capire che si sbagliava.
She made him understand he was wrong.
Quella ragazza vi ha fatto capire.
That girl made you understand.
How to use “Make (…) in Italian?
The use of Pronouns
When you use this structure in Italian, you need to use a direct or indirect pronoun depending on the main verb. Here, in fact, the verb fare behaves like an auxiliary verb, that provides modal information about the sentence and adds no further semantic information to the sentence.
This means that the actual meaning – or semantic information – of the sentence is given by the main verb.
For instance, in the sentence:
Questo film mi ha fatto piangere.
This movie made me cry.
- The verb “fare” adds no meaning to the sentence, because this is given by the verb “piangere”.
Whenever you use “make (…)” in Italian, you must look at the main verb of the sentence and understand whether it is a transitive or intransitive verb in order to choose a direct or indirect pronoun.
What is relevant is that the choice of the pronoun is the opposite in this structure: you need an indirect pronoun with transitive verbs and a direct one with intransitive verbs.
For instance, the verb studiare (to study) is a transitive verb: if I want to say that I made her study history, I will have to say “io le faccio studiare storia” (I make her study history), where “le” is the indirect pronoun standing for “a lei” (to her).
Opposingly, the verb uscire (to go out) is an intransitive verb: if I want to say that I make her go out I will have to say “io la faccio uscire” (I make her go out), where “la” is the direct pronoun.
Why Does This Happen? A Linguistic Perspective
This phenomenon can be explained by the syntactic and semantic properties of the verbs and its interaction with the structure of sentences involving the verb “fare” (to make).
For the transitive verb “studiare” (to study), the usual construction would need a direct object for what is being studied, but when it is used in a construction with “fare”, the focus shifts to the push that is given to the subject of the main verb to perform that action.
In the sentence “io le faccio studiare storia”, “le” (to her) is an indirect pronoun that refers to whom the push is given. This structure focuses on the action rather than on the object storia.
In contrast, for the intransitive verb “uscire” (to go out) the usual construction would need no direct object, but when it is used in a construction with “fare”, in Italian we use a direct pronoun that refers to the person being pushed to perform the action denoted by the main verb.
So, “io la faccio uscire” translates to “I make her go out,” with “la” referring directly to her, emphasizing the push of the action itself rather than to whom the action is directed.
Useful Combinations
Now that “ti ho fatto capire” (I made you understand) the structure, let me show you some common combinations:
- fare capire: to make (someone) understand
- fare credere: to make (someone) believe
- fare fare: to make (someone) do
- fare piangere: to make (someone) cry
- fare ridere: to make (someone) laugh
- fare sapere: to let (someone) know
- fare vedere: to make (someone) see
You’ll hear them a lot if you go to Italy or if you have Italian friends.
Fare + Infinitive in Every Tense
Only fare changes with the tense. The second verb always stays in the infinitive. Here is the construction in the main tenses, with the same verb so you can compare them (see the full conjugation in the lesson on fare):
| Tense | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Mi fa ridere. | He/she makes me laugh. |
| Present perfect | Mi ha fatto ridere. | He/she made me laugh. |
| Imperfect | Mi faceva ridere. | He/she used to make me laugh. |
| Future | Mi farà ridere. | He/she will make me laugh. |
| Conditional | Mi farebbe ridere. | It would make me laugh. |
| Imperative | Fammi vedere! | Show me! / Let me see! |
Where Do the Pronouns Go?
The pronoun goes before fare. With the imperative, or when fare is in the infinitive, the pronoun is attached to it: Fammi sapere (Let me know), Non voglio farti piangere (I don’t want to make you cry). For the rules on pronouns with commands, see the lesson on imperative and pronouns.
In the present perfect, the participle fatto agrees with a direct pronoun but not with an indirect one:
L’ho fatta uscire.
I made her go out.
Li ho fatti ridere.
I made them laugh.
Le ho fatto studiare storia.
I made her study history.
Have Something Done: Fare + Infinitive
The same construction also means to have something done by someone else, for example by a professional. In this case the person who does the job is often not mentioned:
Ho fatto riparare la macchina.
I had the car repaired.
Faccio fare un vestito alla sarta.
I’m having a dress made by the seamstress.
Mi sono fatto tagliare i capelli.
I got my hair cut.
With the reflexive farsi (mi faccio, ti fai…), the person who gets the service is the subject, and the auxiliary is essere.
Fare fare and Far fare
Fare fare means “to make or have someone do”. The first fare is the causative verb and the second is the action: Il capo ci fa fare molti straordinari (The boss makes us do a lot of overtime). Before another infinitive, fare often loses its last syllable and becomes far: far ridere, far capire, far fare.
Fare, Rendere or Costringere?
English “make” can be translated in different ways. Use fare + infinitive for an action, rendere + adjective for a result and costringere or obbligare for force:
Mi fa ridere.
He/she makes me laugh.
Questa notizia mi rende felice.
This news makes me happy.
Mi ha costretto a restare.
He forced me to stay.
If you want to say the opposite, that you allow someone to do something, read how to let someone do something.
Practice: Translate Into Italian
- The teacher made us read the text.
- The movie made her cry.
- Let me know tomorrow.
- I had the phone repaired.
Answers: 1. La professoressa ci ha fatto leggere il testo, 2. Il film l’ha fatta piangere, 3. Fammi sapere domani, 4. Ho fatto riparare il telefono.
Fare + Infinitive: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say “make someone do something” in Italian?
Use fare + infinitive, with the pronoun before fare: Mi ha fatto capire (He/she made me understand).
Is fare fare correct Italian?
Yes. The first fare is the causative verb, the second is the verb of the action. It means “to have something done” or “to make someone do something”.
Why do we say “le faccio studiare” but “la faccio uscire”?
Because the pronoun depends on the infinitive. Studiare has a direct object (storia), so the person is indirect (le). Uscire has no object, so the person is direct (la).
What is the difference between fare and far?
Far is the short form of the infinitive fare, used before another infinitive: far vedere, far sapere.
Now that you properly understood how to make someone do something in Italian, let’s learn about how to let someone do something!
