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La sorpresa la fa urlare.

La sorpresa la fa urlare.
The surprise makes her yell.
From Lesson 314:The immediate future (essere sul punto di)·Italian

Questions & Answers about La sorpresa la fa urlare.

Why do we use the direct object pronoun la instead of the indirect object le here?
When using the causative construction (fare + infinitive), the person being forced to do the action is the direct object only if the infinitive verb does not take a direct object of its own. Because urlare (to yell) doesn't have an object, "her" becomes the direct object (la). If the sentence had a direct object, like "The surprise makes her read a letter", "her" would become the indirect object le (La sorpresa le fa leggere una lettera).
Can I attach the pronoun to the end of the infinitive, like fa urlarla?
No. In the fare + infinitive construction, the two verbs act together like a single unit. Object pronouns cannot attach to the second verb; they must be placed before the conjugated form of fare, which is why it has to be la fa urlare.
Could I use rendere instead of fare to say "makes her"?
No, rendere is only used when "to make" is followed by an adjective (for example, "makes her happy" is la rende felice). When "to make" is followed by a verb action (like "yell"), you must always use the causative fare.
How would I rewrite this sentence to use the current lesson's grammar, essere sul punto di?
To say "The surprise is about to make her yell," you would combine the constructions: La sorpresa è sul punto di farla urlare. Notice that because di requires an infinitive, the verb fare drops its final "e" so the pronoun la can attach directly to it, creating farla.

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