English has a tidy little system for making someone do something: make him read, have her wait, let me finish — a causative verb followed by a bare infinitive. Romanian has no such shortcut. There is no single causative auxiliary like French faire (je le fais lire). Instead, Romanian builds causation lexically plus syntactically: it picks a concrete verb — a pune, a face, a determina, a obliga, a lăsa — and combines it with pe + the person and a să-clause. The result is more transparent than the English bare infinitive, but it forces you to choose the right verb for the right shade of causation.
The core pattern: causative verb + pe + cineva + să
The skeleton is always the same:
[causative verb] + pe [person] + să [conjugated verb]
The person being caused to act is a direct object marked with pe (the accusative marker for definite human objects), and the action they perform sits in a să-clause with a fully conjugated verb. This is the same să-clause machinery you already know from vreau să plec — Romanian simply reuses it for causation.
L-am pus să citească cu voce tare.
I made him read out loud.
Profesoara i-a pus pe copii să stea în liniște.
The teacher made the children stay quiet.
Nu mă obliga să aleg între voi doi.
Don't force me to choose between the two of you.
Notice that the person usually shows up twice: once as a clitic pronoun on the causative verb (l-, i-, mă) and, when it is a full noun, once more as pe + noun (pe copii). This clitic doubling is normal and obligatory in Romanian whenever the object is definite and human.
a pune să — instructional causation ("make / get someone to")
A pune (pe cineva) să is the workhorse causative. It frames the causer as someone who assigns, directs, or sets a person to a task — a boss, a teacher, a parent. The literal sense of a pune is "to put / place," so a pune pe cineva să is "to put someone to doing something."
Șeful m-a pus să refac tot raportul.
The boss made me redo the whole report.
Bunica ne punea mereu să spălăm vasele.
Grandma always made us wash the dishes.
Cine te-a pus să spui asta?
Who told you to say that? (Who put you up to it?)
The nuance is instruction or assignment — the causer has authority and directs the action. It rarely implies physical force; for that, you reach for a obliga ("to force, oblige") or a sili ("to compel," literary).
a face să — bringing about a result or a reaction
A face (pe cineva) să is the causative of effect, especially emotional or physiological reactions. When something makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you think, Romanian uses a face să. Here the causer need not be a person with authority — it can be a film, a smell, a piece of news.
Filmul m-a făcut să plâng de la primul minut.
The film made me cry from the very first minute.
Gluma lui ne-a făcut pe toți să râdem.
His joke made us all laugh.
Vestea asta mă face să cred că totul e posibil.
This news makes me believe anything is possible.
So the division of labour is real: a pune să = someone instructs/assigns a task; a face să = something produces a reaction or result. Profesorul l-a pus să recite (the teacher had him recite — an assignment) is not the same as Poezia l-a făcut să recite (the poem made him recite — an impulse). Choosing the wrong one is grammatical but sounds odd, the way "the boss had me laugh" would sound odd in English.
a lăsa să — permissive causation ("let / allow")
A lăsa (pe cineva) să is the permissive member of the family — English let / allow. Instead of compelling an action, the causer refrains from preventing it. A lăsa on its own means "to leave / let go," and with să it means "to let (someone) do."
Lasă-mă să termin, te rog!
Let me finish, please!
Părinții n-o lasă să iasă seara singură.
Her parents don't let her go out alone at night.
Lasă-l să doarmă, a avut o zi grea.
Let him sleep, he had a hard day.
In the imperative, lasă-mă, lasă-l, lasă-i with a following să is one of the most common everyday frames you will hear — the standard way to say "let me / let him / let them."
The wider causative family
A pune, a face, and a lăsa are the everyday three, but the same pe + să template extends to a whole set of verbs that differ only in how strongly they cause the action.
| Verb | Force of causation | Register | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a lăsa să | permit (no force) | neutral | Te las să alegi. |
| a pune să | assign / direct | neutral | Te pun să alegi. |
| a face să | bring about a reaction | neutral | Te face să alegi greșit. |
| a determina să | induce, prompt | (formal) | Ce te-a determinat să alegi asta? |
| a convinge să | persuade | neutral | Te-am convins să alegi bine. |
| a obliga să | oblige, force | neutral | Nimeni nu te obligă să alegi acum. |
| a sili să | compel (strong) | (literary) | L-au silit să aleagă. |
Argumentele lui m-au determinat să-mi schimb părerea.
His arguments led me to change my opinion.
Legea îi obligă pe toți să poarte centură.
The law obliges everyone to wear a seatbelt.
Because the verb itself carries the causative meaning, Romanian causation is lexical first, syntactic second. English packs all of this into one word, make, and lets context fill in the strength; Romanian forces you to commit to a strength by choosing the verb, then attaches the universal pe + să frame.
Clitic placement and word order
The clitic pronoun for the caused person attaches to the causative verb, not to the verb inside the să-clause. With a compound past, it leans on the auxiliary.
M-a pus să aștept o oră întreagă.
He made me wait a whole hour.
I-am făcut să înțeleagă că vorbesc serios.
I made them understand that I'm serious.
Do not move the clitic into the să-clause: it is m-a făcut să râd, never a făcut să mă râd (and a râde is not even reflexive, so there is no mă there at all). The caused person is the object of the causing, so its pronoun lives with the causative verb.
Common Mistakes
❌ M-a făcut râde.
Incorrect — calque of English 'made me laugh' with a bare infinitive.
✅ M-a făcut să râd.
He made me laugh. (Causation needs a să-clause, not an infinitive.)
❌ L-am pus citească raportul.
Incorrect — missing să after the causative verb.
✅ L-am pus să citească raportul.
I made him read the report.
❌ Filmul m-a pus să plâng.
Incorrect — a pune is instructional; an emotional reaction takes a face.
✅ Filmul m-a făcut să plâng.
The film made me cry.
❌ Lasă-mă termin!
Incorrect — a lăsa also requires să before the verb.
✅ Lasă-mă să termin!
Let me finish!
❌ A făcut pe copii să tacă.
Incorrect — definite human object needs the clitic too, not just pe.
✅ I-a făcut pe copii să tacă.
He made the children be quiet. (Clitic i- doubles the pe-phrase.)
Key Takeaways
- Romanian has no single causative auxiliary. It uses concrete verbs (a pune, a face, a lăsa, a obliga, a determina) plus pe + person + să-clause.
- The English bare infinitive ("make him read") never transfers — always switch to să + conjugated verb.
- a pune să = assign/direct a task; a face să = bring about a reaction or result; a lăsa să = permit.
- The caused person is a direct object: it appears as a clitic on the causative verb, doubled by pe + noun when spelled out.
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