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When you pay someone to perform a service for you—like styling your hair or fixing your shoes—English uses "to have [something] done." Italian uses a special causative construction: the reflexive verb *farsi* followed immediately by an infinitive.

### The Causative *Farsi*

Conjugate *farsi* like a normal reflexive verb (*mi faccio*, *ti fai*, etc.) and place the action being performed in the infinitive.

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To specify the professional performing the service, introduce them with the preposition *da* (by) combined with the definite article (*dal sarto*, *dall'estetista*).

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### *Farsi* in the Past Tense

Because this construction is built on a reflexive verb, it takes the auxiliary verb *essere* (to be) in the *passato prossimo*.

The past participle (*fatto*) agrees in gender and number with the subject (*fatto*, *fatta*, *fatti*, *fatte*). The infinitive verb that follows remains unchanged.

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Notice how a female speaker says *mi sono fatta*, while a male subject uses *si è fatto*.

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For plural subjects, the participle becomes *fatti* (or *fatte* for a strictly feminine group).

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Reflexive causatives (farsi)

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 have something done (to oneself)	farsi
to shorten	accorciare
the hem	l'orlo
I have the hem shortened by the tailor.	Mi faccio accorciare l'orlo dal sarto.
to take in, to tighten	stringere
I always have a few shirts taken in.	Mi faccio sempre stringere qualche camicia.
the nail (anatomy)	l'unghia
the beautician	l'estetista
You have your nails done by the beautician.	Ti fai sistemare le unghie dall'estetista.
the styling, the blowout	la piega
Today I am having my hair styled.	Oggi mi faccio fare la piega.
to dye	tingere
Yesterday I had my hair dyed.	Ieri mi sono fatta tingere i capelli.
the sole	la suola
the cobbler, the shoemaker	il calzolaio
He had the soles replaced by the cobbler.	Lui si è fatto cambiare le suole dal calzolaio.
We had the pants shortened within the week.	Ci siamo fatti accorciare i pantaloni entro la settimana.
She had her hair dyed and styled.	Lei si è fatta tingere i capelli e fare la piega.
I had some skirts taken in by the tailor.	Mi sono fatta stringere alcune gonne dal sarto.
Did you have your nails painted by the beautician?	Ti sei fatta mettere lo smalto dall'estetista?
They had the soles of the boots repaired by the cobbler.	Si sono fatti riparare le suole degli stivali dal calzolaio.
Yesterday I had the hem shortened by the tailor.	Ieri mi sono fatto accorciare l'orlo dal sarto.
The woman had her nails cut by the beautician.	La donna si è fatta tagliare le unghie dall'estetista.