Lassen is one of the workhorses of spoken and written German, and it is genuinely tricky for English speakers because a single verb covers meanings that English splits across "let," "have," "get," "make," "leave," and "stop." The key to mastering it is to separate three constructions that all use a bare infinitive — permissive, causative, and the reflexive passive — from the standalone verb meaning "leave behind / stop."
1. Permissive: let / allow
In its most basic sense, lassen + a bare infinitive means to let or allow someone to do something. The subject permits or doesn't prevent an action.
Lass mich in Ruhe!
Leave me alone! / Let me be! (informal)
Meine Eltern lassen mich am Wochenende lange schlafen.
My parents let me sleep in on weekends. (informal)
Sie lässt die Kinder im Garten spielen.
She lets the children play in the garden.
Notice that the person being permitted goes in the accusative (mich, die Kinder) and the bare infinitive lands at the end of the clause.
2. Causative: have / get something done
This is the meaning that has no clean single-verb English equivalent, and it is everywhere in daily life. Lassen + a bare infinitive expresses that you arrange for someone else to do something — what English renders with "have/get + past participle." You are not doing the action yourself; you cause it to be done.
Ich lasse mein Auto reparieren.
I'm getting my car repaired. (I'm not fixing it myself — a mechanic is.)
Wir lassen gerade ein Haus bauen.
We're having a house built right now.
Ich lasse mir die Haare schneiden.
I'm getting my hair cut. — note the dative reflexive mir: the haircut is done to/for me.
The line between permissive and causative is context: Ich lasse die Kinder spielen permits an action they'd do anyway; Ich lasse das Auto reparieren arranges an action that wouldn't otherwise happen. The grammar is identical; the meaning comes from whether the subject is enabling or commissioning.
3. The reflexive sich lassen + infinitive: a passive alternative
A particularly elegant construction is sich lassen + infinitive, which works as a passive that also expresses possibility — "can be done." It corresponds to English "can be + past participle."
Das lässt sich machen.
That can be done. / That's doable.
Diese Tür lässt sich nicht öffnen.
This door can't be opened. / This door won't open.
Der Fleck lässt sich leicht entfernen.
The stain can be removed easily.
This is often preferred over a full modal passive (kann gemacht werden) because it is shorter and sounds more natural. Das lässt sich machen is far more idiomatic than the grammatically correct but heavier Das kann gemacht werden.
4. Standalone lassen: leave behind / stop
When lassen is not governing another verb, it is an ordinary transitive verb meaning to leave (something somewhere) or, as a command, to stop / cut it out.
Ich habe meine Tasche zu Hause gelassen.
I left my bag at home. — standalone lassen, so the Perfekt is gelassen.
Lass das!
Stop that! / Cut it out! (informal)
Lass uns gehen!
Let's go! — the standard German 'let's' construction.
The Perfekt: double infinitive vs. gelassen
This is where the most stubborn errors live, and the rule is purely mechanical:
- When lassen governs a second verb, the Perfekt is a double infinitive: hat ... lassen (never gelassen).
- When lassen stands alone, the Perfekt is the regular participle gelassen.
| Use | Present | Perfekt |
|---|---|---|
| Causative (+ verb) | Ich lasse das Auto reparieren. | Ich habe das Auto reparieren lassen. |
| Permissive (+ verb) | Sie lässt mich gehen. | Sie hat mich gehen lassen. |
| Standalone (leave) | Ich lasse die Tasche hier. | Ich habe die Tasche hier gelassen. |
Ich habe mir gestern die Haare schneiden lassen.
I got my hair cut yesterday. — double infinitive schneiden lassen.
Wo hast du nur deinen Schlüssel gelassen?
Where on earth did you leave your key? (informal) — standalone, so gelassen.
Present-tense forms
Lassen is a strong verb with an irregular vowel change in the du and er/sie/es forms.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | lasse |
| du | lässt |
| er / sie / es | lässt |
| wir | lassen |
| ihr | lasst |
| sie / Sie | lassen |
Note that du lässt and er lässt are identical — the du form would normally add -st, but since the stem already ends in -ss, only the umlaut distinguishes them from the ich form.
How English shapes the errors
English speakers stumble on lassen in two ways. First, the causative is invisible to them: because English says "I'm getting my car repaired" with no causative verb that maps onto lassen, learners try to express it with the passive (Mein Auto wird repariert) or, worse, say Ich repariere mein Auto — claiming to do the work themselves. Second, the Perfekt: knowing that German participles usually start with ge-, learners reach for gelassen even when a second verb demands the double infinitive.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich repariere mein Auto.
Incorrect if you mean 'I'm having it repaired (at the garage)' — this says you fix it yourself. Use the causative.
✅ Ich lasse mein Auto reparieren.
I'm getting my car repaired.
❌ Ich habe mein Auto reparieren gelassen.
Incorrect — with a governed verb, lassen uses the double infinitive, not gelassen.
✅ Ich habe mein Auto reparieren lassen.
I had my car repaired.
❌ Das kann gemacht werden, kein Problem.
Not wrong, but stilted in conversation — the sich-lassen passive is far more idiomatic.
✅ Das lässt sich machen, kein Problem.
That can be done, no problem.
❌ Lassen wir gehen!
Incorrect word order for 'let's go' — the accusative pronoun comes before the infinitive.
✅ Lass uns gehen!
Let's go!
❌ Du lasst die Kinder spielen.
Incorrect — du takes the umlauted strong form lässt.
✅ Du lässt die Kinder spielen.
You let the children play. (informal)
Key Takeaways
- Lassen
- bare infinitive has three senses: permissive ("let"), causative ("have/get done"), and reflexive passive (sich lassen = "can be done").
- The causative is the highest-value sense and has no single English verb — it maps onto "have/get + past participle."
- Standalone lassen means "leave behind" or, as a command, "stop."
- Perfekt: double infinitive (reparieren lassen) with a governed verb, gelassen when standalone.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- The Bare Infinitive (without zu)B1 — The small set of verbs — modals, perception verbs, lassen, and motion verbs — that take a plain infinitive with no zu, and the double-infinitive Perfekt they trigger.
- The Perfekt of Modals: The Double InfinitiveB2 — Why modal verbs (and lassen, sehen, hören) form their Perfekt with a substitute infinitive instead of a participle, and why the auxiliary jumps forward in subordinate clauses.
- The Passive: Overview and When to Use ItB1 — How the werden-passive works across the tenses, how to name the agent with von or durch, the sein-passive for result states, and — crucially — when German prefers man or an active instead.
- Verbs of Perception and CausationB2 — How sehen, hören, fühlen, spüren and causative lassen take a bare infinitive with an accusative subject, and why their Perfekt uses the double-infinitive construction.
- lassen: Full Conjugation and UsageB1 — Complete conjugation of the strong verb lassen 'to let / leave / have done' across all tenses and moods, with the causative bare-infinitive construction, the double-infinitive Perfekt, the sich lassen passive, idioms, and the errors English speakers make.
- man vs the PassiveB2 — When to use the indefinite pronoun man (one/you/they + active verb) versus the werden-passive to express agentless or general actions — and why natural German uses far fewer passives than English.