Breakdown of Facciamo ristrutturare le pareti.
fare
to do / to make
ristrutturare
to renovate (buildings, structures)
la parete
the wall (interior)
Questions & Answers about Facciamo ristrutturare le pareti.
Why do we use facciamo to mean 'we are having' instead of a form of avere?
In English, you use 'to have something done' to say someone else is doing a task for you. In Italian, you use the causative construction: the verb fare followed directly by an infinitive verb. Facciamo ristrutturare literally translates to 'we make renovate,' but it is the standard way to say 'we are having [something] renovated.' You cannot use avere for this.
Could I change the word order and say Facciamo le pareti ristrutturare?
No, the word order is very strict in Italian. In a causative construction, the conjugated form of fare and the infinitive verb (ristrutturare) must stick together like a single block. The object receiving the action (le pareti) always comes after the infinitive, never between the two verbs.
Why does this sentence use le pareti for walls instead of i muri?
Both words mean 'walls,' but they have slightly different everyday uses. I muri usually refers to thick, load-bearing exterior walls or structural brick walls. Le pareti refers to the interior walls that divide rooms inside a house. Since this is an interior home renovation, le pareti is the natural choice.
If I wanted to mention who is doing the work, how would I add 'by the builders'?
When you have a direct object (le pareti) in this fare construction, the person actually performing the action is treated like the agent in a passive sentence, introduced by the preposition da. To say 'We are having the walls renovated by the builders,' you would add it at the end: Facciamo ristrutturare le pareti dai muratori.
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