Breakdown of Es el ilusionista quien te hace llorar.
ser
to be
hacer
to do / to make
llorar
to cry
te
to you / you (direct object)
quien
whom / who (relative singular)
el ilusionista
the illusionist
Questions & Answers about Es el ilusionista quien te hace llorar.
Why does te go before hace instead of attaching to llorar?
In causative structures like hacer + infinitive, the two verbs act almost like a single unit. Because of this, object pronouns normally go before the conjugated causative verb (te hace llorar), rather than attaching to the end of the infinitive. You will rarely see forms like hace llorarte.
Is te a direct or an indirect object in this sentence?
It is a direct object. The rule for causative structures is: if the infinitive verb is intransitive (meaning it cannot take a direct object of its own, like llorar), the person being made to do the action acts as the direct object of the whole phrase. If the infinitive were a transitive verb (like leer un libro), the person would become the indirect object instead.
Could I use que instead of quien here?
Yes, Es el ilusionista que te hace llorar is also grammatically correct. However, in this specific type of emphasizing structure (often called a cleft sentence, which translates to 'It is X who...'), using quien is very common and sounds slightly more elegant when referring to a person.
Could I use the subjunctive and say hace que llores instead of te hace llorar?
Yes, both structures translate to 'makes you cry.' However, when the person being made to do the action is represented by a short pronoun like te, the infinitive structure (te hace llorar) is much more common and sounds more natural in everyday speech than the subjunctive version.
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