Question 1

Why do la and lui go before fais instead of before signer?

Accepted Answer

In standard French, object pronouns usually go immediately before the verb they belong to. However, the causative faire construction acts as a tightly linked single verbal block. Because of this, any object pronouns for either faire or the infinitive (signer) must be placed before faire. You cannot say Je fais la lui signer.

Question 2

Why is the person signing represented by the indirect pronoun lui instead of a direct pronoun like le?

Accepted Answer

This is a major rule of the causative faire structure: if the infinitive verb has a direct object (here, la representing the thing being signed), the person actually doing the action is forced into the indirect object slot. Since the document is the direct object, the person signing becomes lui (to him/her). If there were no document mentioned, the person would be the direct object: Je le fais signer (I am making him sign).

Question 3

Why is the pronoun order la lui and not lui la?

Accepted Answer

When placing double pronouns before a verb, French follows a strict sequence. Third-person direct object pronouns (le, la, les) always come before third-person indirect object pronouns (lui, leur). Because both pronouns here are in the third person, it must be la lui.

Question 4

Could Je la lui fais signer also mean "I am having her sign it"?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! The indirect pronoun lui means both "to him" and "to her" in French. Without additional context, this sentence could refer to having a man or a woman sign the document. The la strictly tells us that the thing being signed is a feminine noun, such as la lettre (the letter) or la pétition (the petition).

Je la lui fais signer.

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