Breakdown of O imperador fez-lhe beber o vinho.
beber
to drink
fazer
to do
o vinho
the wine
lhe
to him / to her / to you (formal)
o imperador
the emperor
Questions & Answers about O imperador fez-lhe beber o vinho.
Why is it fez-lhe (indirect object) instead of fê-lo (direct object) for "made him"?
This is the core rule for causative verbs like fazer. When the second verb (beber) already has a direct object (o vinho), the person being made to do the action (the causee) gets pushed into the indirect object slot. Therefore, we must use the dative pronoun lhe instead of the accusative o.
What would the sentence look like if we removed o vinho?
If the second verb doesn't have a direct object, the causee takes that role. "The emperor made him drink" would be O imperador fê-lo beber. Because the direct object slot is now empty, "him" becomes the direct object, so we use the accusative pronoun o, which changes to -lo after the Z in fez.
Could I attach the pronoun to the second verb instead, like O imperador fez beber-lhe o vinho?
No. In European Portuguese, when you have a causative verb like fazer, mandar (to order), or deixar (to let) followed immediately by an infinitive, the object pronoun must attach to the causative verb (fez), not the infinitive.
Is there another way to say this without using the infinitive?
Yes, you can use a clause with que, but it requires the subjunctive mood: O imperador fez com que ele bebesse o vinho. The fazer plus infinitive structure used in this sentence is often preferred because it is more concise and lets you avoid conjugating the subjunctive.
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