The Causative Construction: "Fare" + Infinitive
When you want to say that you are "having something done" (like renovating a house) or making someone do something, Italian uses a construction called the causative.
You form it by conjugating the verb fare (to make/do) and immediately following it with an infinitive verb.
Specifying the Worker
If you want to mention who is performing the action (the tradesperson or agent), the sentence structure changes slightly. Because the action usually already has a direct object (e.g., the house, the wall, the pipe), the person doing the work becomes the indirect object.
You introduce the person with the preposition a (to), which is almost always combined with a definite article to form an articulated preposition (like al, ai, or all').
Using with Modals and Compound Tenses
You will often need to use this construction alongside modal verbs (like dovere, must) or impersonal expressions (like bisogna, it is necessary).
In these cases, fare remains in the infinitive. However, when the infinitive fare sits directly in front of another infinitive, it drops its final -e and becomes far.
Finally, this construction works in any tense, including the passato prossimo. Simply conjugate fare with its auxiliary verb avere and follow it with the infinitive of the action verb.
