Idiomes avec Se Faire

The pronominal se faire is one of the most productive verbs in French. It generates at least eight distinct idiomatic patterns, ranging from the passive-causative se faire couper les cheveux (get a haircut) to the existential comment se fait-il que... (how come...?). Each pattern follows its own structure and has its own register, and learners have to recognize them as separate constructions rather than as a single verb whose meaning shifts.

This page works through the major patterns one by one. Recognize them as you read — the se faire + adjective is not the same construction as se faire + infinitive, even though they share the same verb. Once you can sort them, the apparent chaos becomes a small set of patterns, each useful in everyday speech.

Pattern 1: se faire + adjective — to gradually become

se faire + adjectif = to become (gradually). The construction emphasizes the process of becoming, often a slow drift over time.

Common collocations: se faire vieux (get old), se faire rare (become scarce / not show up much), se faire tard (get late — said of the hour), se faire beau / belle (get dressed up — though see Pattern 2 below for the alternative reading).

The pattern is restricted — you can't combine se faire with any adjective. It works best with adjectives that describe a state of being that someone gradually moves into: age, scarcity, lateness, beauty. Se faire intelligent or se faire grand don't work. The fixed expressions are what you should memorize, and you'll develop intuition for which new combinations are acceptable.

Pattern 2: se faire + infinitive — passive causative (have something done to you)

This is the construction most worth mastering. se faire + infinitif means to have something done to oneself — by another person. It's the French way of expressing what English does with "get + past participle" or "have + past participle."

The classic example: se faire couper les cheveux = to get a haircut. Literally "to make oneself cut the hair" — a barber does the cutting, but the structure is built around you.

The structure is flexible. The action can be neutral (couper les cheveux, photographier, opérer), unwanted (virer, arnaquer, prendre), or violent (tuer, frapper). Context tells you which.

The past participle fait in this construction does not agree with the subject. Despite être as auxiliary in the passé composé, you write elle s'est fait couper les cheveux, not elle s'est faite couper. This is one of the few places French overrides its usual agreement rules, because fait here is governed by an immediately following infinitive.

Pattern 3: se faire + infinitive — getting tricked, robbed, fired

A subset of Pattern 2, but worth highlighting because the verbs are so common in spoken French. The pattern is the same — se faire + infinitif — but the meaning is consistently negative.

• se faire avoir = to get tricked, fooled, taken in
• se faire arnaquer = to get scammed
• se faire voler = to get robbed (of something)
• se faire virer = to get fired (informal)
• se faire licencier = to get laid off (formal)
• se faire prendre = to get caught
• se faire engueuler = to get yelled at
• se faire taper sur les doigts (literally get rapped on the knuckles) = to get reprimanded

The recurring pattern: French uses se faire + infinitif where English has get + verb. The subject is the person on the receiving end. This construction is so productive that you can spontaneously coin new combinations and listeners will understand: je me suis fait crier dessus, je me suis fait insulter, je me suis fait renverser par un vélo.

Pattern 4: se faire mal — to hurt oneself

se faire mal = to hurt oneself. se faire mal à + body part = to hurt one's [body part].

The construction is fixed: always à + the part, with the definite article. You don't say je me suis fait mal à mon dos — French uses the definite article (le dos) where the possessive is implied by the reflexive me.

Pattern 5: s'en faire — to worry

A double-pronominal construction: se + en + faire. s'en faire = to worry. The negative imperative Ne t'en fais pas ! is one of the most common phrases in spoken French.

The expression has the same meaning as s'inquiéter (covered on the idiomatic pronominal verbs page), but with a different feel. S'inquiéter is more neutral and works in both spoken and written French. S'en faire is markedly conversational. Ne t'en fais pas is the everyday reassurance; ne t'inquiète pas is more formal-flavored, though both are common.

Pattern 6: se faire à — to get used to

se faire à + noun = to get used to (something). The preposition is à + the thing being adapted to.

The synonym s'habituer à has the same meaning and is more frequent in writing. Se faire à feels slightly more colloquial and is preferred in spoken French. Both take à; both can be used with the same range of complements.

Pattern 7: se faire passer pour — to pretend to be

se faire passer pour + noun = to pass oneself off as, to impersonate.

The construction is rich. The pour introduces the false identity. There is no preposition before the role itself: passer pour un médecin, not passer pour comme un médecin. The reflexive se makes it active impersonation rather than passive being-mistaken-for.

A near-synonym is se prétendre + noun/adjectif (more formal): il se prétend médecin = he claims to be a doctor. Se faire passer pour implies actual deception; se prétendre implies a (possibly false) self-description.

Pattern 8: se faire dessus / se faire chier — vulgar idioms

Two vulgar idioms with se faire that you'll hear in casual speech but should not use in mixed company.

se faire dessus (vulgar) = to wet/soil oneself, literally or figuratively (i.e., to be terrified). Literally to make on oneself.

se faire chier (vulgar) = to be bored stiff. The verb chier is a vulgar word for defecating, but in this idiom it means "bore." The intensity is high — this is genuinely rude speech, not just casual.

There's also the related se faire chier à + infinitif = to bother / go to the trouble of. Je me suis fait chier à tout préparer pour rien = I went to all the trouble of preparing everything for nothing.

Pattern 9: comment se fait-il que + subjunctive — how is it that

comment se fait-il que + subjonctif = how is it that, how come. A formal interrogative construction that requires the subjunctive in the que clause because it questions a state of affairs.

The subjunctive (sois, ait) is required after this construction because the question expresses surprise about a fact. In casual speech, French speakers often replace the construction with the simpler pourquoi + indicative: pourquoi tu es encore là ? The comment se fait-il que form is more elevated, and it's exactly the kind of construction you'd write in formal correspondence or speak in a lecture.

Pattern 10: qu'est-ce que tu en fais ? — what do you do with it?

A useful idiomatic question: qu'est-ce que tu en fais ? literally "what do you make of it?" — meaning what do you do with it? in a practical sense.

The clitic en refers anaphorically to the object just mentioned. The construction can also express dismissive contempt: qu'est-ce que tu veux que j'en fasse ? = what do you want me to do with it? (subtext: it's useless to me).

A note on participle agreement

The agreement rules for se faire differ across the patterns:

1. se faire + infinitif (Patterns 2, 3): the participle fait is invariable — elle s'est fait couper les cheveux, not faite. This is a special rule for the causative.
2. se faire + adjectif (Pattern 1): the adjective agrees normally — elle s'est faite belle.
3. se faire mal (Pattern 4): fait is invariable — elle s'est fait mal, not faite.
4. s'en faire (Pattern 5): fait is invariable — elle s'en est fait (rare in passé composé — usually present tense).

The general principle is: when fait is followed by an infinitive or by a fixed expression like mal, it stays invariable. When fait is the main predicate with an adjective complement, the adjective agrees. Don't try to memorize this in the abstract — learn the patterns, and the agreements come with them.

Common mistakes

Why se faire is so productive

Looking across the patterns, a unifying logic emerges. The pronominal se in se faire almost always marks the subject as affected by the action — the locus where something happens or settles. Whether you're aging (se faire vieux), getting your hair cut (se faire couper les cheveux), worrying (s'en faire), or getting tricked (se faire avoir), the construction places you in the position of the experiencer, the one to whom things happen or in whom changes register.

This is why the same verb can express such different ideas: each pattern combines se faire with a different complement (adjective, infinitive, mal, à + noun, en), and each combination locks the meaning into one of the slots. Learn the patterns separately, master a couple of fixed phrases in each, and the rest will accumulate naturally as you read and listen. The verb faire is the single most flexible word in French, and se faire is its most generative reflex.