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C'est la chemise qu'il a fait élargir.

C'est la chemise qu'il a fait élargir.
It is the shirt that he had widened.
From Lesson 307:Past participle agreement with causative faire (fait)·French

Questions & Answers about C'est la chemise qu'il a fait élargir.

Why isn't fait spelled faite to agree with la chemise?
Normally, the past participle in a compound tense agrees with a preceding direct object (que replacing the feminine noun la chemise). However, when faire is followed by an infinitive (like élargir), it creates the causative construction. By a special rule, the past participle fait never agrees when it is followed by an infinitive. It always stays exactly as fait.
How does a fait élargir translate to the English "had widened"?
This uses the French causative structure, formed with faire plus an infinitive. It expresses that the subject caused an action to happen rather than doing it themselves. Il a fait élargir literally means "he made widen," which we translate naturally as "he had [it] widened."
If I wasn't using a relative clause with que, where would la chemise go in the sentence?
It would go after both verbs: Il a fait élargir la chemise. In the French causative structure, faire and the infinitive act as a single inseparable block. You cannot put the object between them like you might in English.
Is the verb élargir related to the adjective large?
Yes! A common pattern in French is taking an adjective, like large (wide), and wrapping it in the prefix é- and the suffix -ir to create an action verb. This forms élargir, meaning "to make wider" or "to widen."

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