Causatives in English
When we arrange for someone to do something for us, we use causatives. These are used to indicate that someone is doing an action for us.
Example:
Sandra had her hair cut yesterday.
Somebody cut it for her.
Causatives are used in the tense in which the action is affected.
Example:
Marline is painting her nails. → Marline is having her nail painted.
The structure for causatives involves the use of the verb “have” followed by the object and then the past participle of the verb.
Examples:
My mother has me buy bread every morning.
My mother made me buy bread yesterday morning.
My mother got me to buy bread yesterday morning.
The word order is important, with the past participle coming after the object. All tenses can be used.
The Causative Structure:
Somebody + have + somebody + do + something
or
Somebody + get + somebody + to do + something
Examples:
I made him write the letter. / I let him write the letter. / I got him to write the letter.
Tense Identification:
Identify the tense of the following sentences:
- Jill has the roof repaired every year. → Present
- Jill had the roof repaired yesterday. → Past
- Jill is having the roof repaired at the moment. → Present Continuous
- Jill will have the roof repaired tomorrow. → Future/Will
- Jill has had the roof repaired. → Present Perfect
- Jill wants to have the roof repaired. → Want (Desire)
- Jill should have the roof repaired. → Should (Advice)
Practice:
Complete the sentences with the appropriate tense:
- I have Ali paint the kitchen. → Simple Present
- I want to have Ali paint the kitchen.
- I am having Ali paint the kitchen. → Present Continuous
- I will have Ali paint the kitchen. → Future/Will
- I have had Ahmet paint the kitchen. → Present Perfect
- I was having Ahmet paint the kitchen. → Past Continuous
- I had Ahmet paint the kitchen. → Past Simple
- I must have Ahmet paint the kitchen. → Must (Obligation)
- I had to have Ahmet paint the kitchen. → Had To (Necessity)
- I get Ahmet to paint the kitchen. → Get
- I asked Ahmet to paint the kitchen. → Ask
- I told Ahmet to paint the kitchen. → Tell