causative verbs

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Causative Structures 
 
 
Active Passive 
I had John fix the car. I had the car fixed. 
(I arranged for the car to be 
fixed by John — I caused him 
to fix it.) 
(I arranged for the car to be fixed by 
someone. We don't know who, so this is 
like a passive.) 
This is the basic structure of the active form, along with some more examples: 
Subje
ct 
Causativ
e verb 
Agent 
Actio
n 
verb 
Object 
Susan had 
her 
brother 
do 
her 
homewor
k. 
The 
police 
had 
the 
suspect 
stop his car. 
We had 
the 
carpent
er 
fix 
our 
window. 
 
The passive causative structure 
In the passive form, there is usually no agent. The action verb is in the past 
participle, and the object comes before it: 
Subject Causative verb Object Action verb 
We had our door fixed. 
Yukiko had her hair cut. 
Sanjay had the windows cleaned. 
 
Other causative verbs 
All the examples above use the causative verb “have”. However, many other verbs 
can be used in causatives. In the active form, some of these verbs require the action 
verb to have “to” before it. These are some examples of the most common causative 
verbs. 
Verb Meaning 
Form of 
Action Verb 
Examples 
make force, plain form The robbers made us 
 
 
Verb Meaning 
Form of 
Action Verb 
Examples 
compel lie on the floor. 
[No passive form] 
get 
same as 
"have" 
"to" form 
I got Jae Won to pick 
me up in the car. 
She got her hair cut. 
let allow plain form 
I'll let you borrow my 
bike. 
[No passive form] 
 
NOTE: GET is more informal than HAVE 
Examples: 
I'm getting my hair cut this afternoon. 
She got her purse stolen! 
 
Other Examples: 
a) He got his hair cut by a barber. (A professional barber did the work.) 
OR He had the barber give him a haircut. 
Note: If a person doing the work comes after the verb, the verb is in the simple 
form. If a thing comes after the verb, the verb is in the form of the past 
participle. In the first sentence, the word "cut" is a past participle. In the 
second sentence, "give" is in the simple form. 
 
b) They had their house painted blue. (Professional house painters did the 
work.) 
OR They had a company paint their house. 
 
c) She got her teeth cleaned by a dental hygienist. 
OR She had the hygienist clean her teeth.