Who is actually doing it?
Riparo la macchina means you are under the bonnet yourself. Faccio riparare la macchina means you take it to the garage. With fare + infinitive you bring an action about instead of doing it yourself. It also covers unplanned causing, like English make: Mi ha fatto ridere — he made me laugh. English has the same idea (I had the car repaired, I got my hair cut), but the shape is different.
Doing it yourself or having it done
Riparo la macchina.
I repair the car.
Faccio riparare la macchina.
I'm having the car repaired.
Word order — where the mistake lurks
English puts the object between the two verbs: I had the car repaired. Italian puts it after the infinitive. Think of fare and the infinitive as a single verb; everything else queues up behind it.
The same sentences in both languages
| English | Italian |
|---|---|
| We are having the kitchen redone. | Facciamo rifare la cucina. |
| She is having a cake made. | Fa preparare una torta. |
| I'm having the flat cleaned. | Faccio pulire l'appartamento. |
In English the object sits in the middle, in Italian at the end.
Who does the work
Often it does not matter who does it. If you want to name them, add the person at the end. If the infinitive already has an object, use da (the English by, mostly for professionals) or a (mostly for a particular person). If there is no object, the performer becomes the object itself, with no preposition.
Faccio riparare la macchina dal meccanico.
I'm having the car repaired by the mechanic.
with da
Faccio lavare la macchina a Marco.
I'm getting Marco to wash the car.
with a
Faccio studiare i bambini.
I make the children study.
no object
Placing pronouns
Turn the object into a pronoun and it goes in front of the conjugated fare, not in front of the infinitive. English keeps pronouns behind the verb (I'm having it repaired), so this has to be learned. If fare itself is an infinitive, the pronoun is attached as usual.
La faccio riparare domani.
I'm having it repaired tomorrow.
Questa storia mi fa ridere ogni volta.
This story makes me laugh every time.
Devo farlo riparare.
I have to have it repaired.
Having something done for yourself
When the action is for your own benefit, use farsi: I get my hair cut, I had my passport renewed. English marks the owner with my; Italian does not, because mi already says whose it is. In the passato prossimo farsi takes essere.
Mi faccio tagliare i capelli ogni mese.
I get my hair cut every month.
Mi sono fatto spiegare tutto due volte.
I had everything explained to me twice.
Fare or lasciare?
English sorts this out for you: fare is your make and have, you bring the action about. lasciare is your let, you simply do not stand in the way. The exception is the fixed phrases let me know and let me see, which are requests and use fare: fammi sapere, fammi vedere, not lasciami sapere.
Bringing about against allowing
fare — you cause it
Ho fatto venire il tecnico.
I had the technician come.
Il professore ci fa leggere un libro al mese.
The professor makes us read a book a month.
lasciare — you allow it
Ho lasciato entrare il gatto.
I let the cat in.
Lascia parlare tuo fratello.
Let your brother speak.
Fixed phrases with fare + infinitive
Four you need right away
to show
Fammi vedere la foto. — Show me the photo.
to let know
Fammi sapere a che ora arrivi. — Let me know when you arrive.
to make clear
Gli ho fatto capire che non ero d'accordo. — I made it clear to him that I did not agree.
to keep waiting
Non farmi aspettare. — Do not keep me waiting.
