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### 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.

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### 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'*).

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### 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**.

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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.

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Making someone do something (fare + infinito)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
to renovate (buildings, structures)	ristrutturare
I'm having the house renovated.	Faccio ristrutturare la casa.
the wall (interior)	la parete
We're having the walls renovated.	Facciamo ristrutturare le pareti.
the house painter	l'imbianchino
I'm having the painter paint the wall.	Faccio dipingere la parete all'imbianchino.
Are you having the boy clean the room?	Fai pulire la stanza al ragazzo?
the bricklayer	il muratore
It is necessary to have the bricklayers build the wall.	Bisogna far costruire la parete ai muratori.
I would have the bricklayer renovate the bathroom.	Farei ristrutturare il bagno al muratore.
the pipe	il tubo
the plumber	l'idraulico
I'm having the plumber change the pipe.	Faccio cambiare il tubo all'idraulico.
You must have the plumber repair the pipes.	Devi far riparare i tubi all'idraulico.
to install	installare
the system	l'impianto
We're having the heating system installed.	Facciamo installare l'impianto di riscaldamento.
I'll have to have a new pipe installed.	Dovrò far installare un tubo nuovo.
the electrician	l'elettricista
I'm having the electrician check the system.	Faccio controllare l'impianto all'elettricista.
They're having the electrician install the light.	Fanno installare la luce all'elettricista.
the carpenter	il falegname
We're having the carpenter build the table.	Facciamo costruire il tavolo al falegname.
I'm having the carpenter assemble the wardrobe.	Faccio montare l'armadio al falegname.
We had the painter paint the house.	Abbiamo fatto dipingere la casa all'imbianchino.

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