What are causative verbs?

Causative verbs, as the name indicates, are the verbs that indicate that a person,
usually the subject, causes another person to do an action for them or someone
else. You can cause someone to do something by requesting, forcing, ordering,
coaxing, asking, convincing, or simply paying.

Here are the most common causative verbs in English:

• Have

• Let
• Get
• Make
• Help
LET

The verb let means “to allow or permit someone to do something.” The
causative verbs, like any other main verbs, can be used in any tense.

Structure: Subject + let (all tenses) + person (object) + bare infinitive (V1)

My father lets us watch TV after dinner.

My father allows us to watch TV after dinner. While eating dinner, he does not al-
low us to watch TV.

Examples:

• He never lets me touch his phone.

• They didn’t let us talk.
• I will never let her go there.
• Why don’t you let him play with us?
• You must let him study with Riya.
• I couldn’t let him talk rudely to your mother.
Sometimes the subject of the causative verb ‘let’ is implied: YOU.

• Let me handle this. (= You let me handle this.)

• Please let us go.
• Let them do what they want to do.

MAKE

The verb ‘make’ as a causative verb means “to force or pressure someone to do
something.”

Structure: Subject + make (all tenses) + person (object) + bare infinitive (V1)

We did not have money to pay them, so they made us clean the dishes.
They forced us to clean the dishes as we didn’t pay them for the food we had eaten.

Examples:
 • She made me take up this course. I was never up for this.
• My brother always makes me clean his room.
• You can’t make me do what I don’t like.
• I should make her take this job.
• The police made them surrender and reveal their plans.
• I will make you regret this.

HAVE

The verb ‘have’ as a causative verb means “to ask, instruct, or request someone
to do something.” To have someone do something is somewhat making the person
do it but by asking or paying them. But they don’t have much of a choice or gener-
ally accept what you ask them to do because they are either paid for the action or
they respect you enough in order to not to say ‘no’ to you.

My father had me pick up the guests from the station.

My father caused (asked) me to do an action: pick up the guests. He asked me to
do it, but I didn’t have much of a choice to say ‘no’ to him because I both feared
and respected him enough. So, he made me do the action in a way, but not directly.

Structure 1: Subject + have (all tenses) + person + base verb (V1)

Examples:

• I will have him talk to you.

• I had Jon pay the bill last night.
• I will have Sneha show you the campus.
• We had him paint all the walls.
• I will have Rohin cut my hair.
In the above examples, the actions (verb) that the object (person) performs are in
the active voice. They can be in the passive voice too. In the passive form, what the
object (person) acts upon is important and is what we focus on and leave the object
(person) unmentioned.

Structure 2: Subject + have (all tenses) + object + past participle

• I will have the man repair my bike tomorrow. (active)

 • I will have my bike repaired tomorrow. (passive)

Notice that in the passive form, the subject hasn’t mentioned the person who does
the action for them; the focus is on the object (the thing) that he acts upon: my hair.
It is obvious that someone will do the action, but it’s not important who does the
action; the important thing is what he acts upon.

Active voice Passive voice

I will have Rohin cut my I will have my hair cut in the

hair in the evening. evening (by Rohan).

We had Jimi complete We had our project com-

our project. pleted.

We will have Rohan We will have your assign-

check your assignment. ment checked.

Notice that in the passive voice, the person whom we get something done by is not
mentioned or in brackets as the person is not important.

Note: we can use modal verbs with causatives too. The modal verb comes before
the causative verb.

• You should have him give the presentation.

• I must have her present our idea in front of the judges.
• We could have Simi do the editing. She has done it before.
GET

The verb ‘get’ as a causative verb means “to convince someone to do something
or to coax, encourage, or trick someone into doing something.” You sometimes
pay for the action too.

Structure 1: Subject + get (all tenses) + person (object) + infinitive (to + V1)

I got Jyoti to write my essay. She is great at it.

Initially, Jyoti was not going to write my essay. But I convinced her to do that for
me.

Examples:

• They got me to write content for their website.

• I got him to sign the papers. Now, the property is yours.
• Max got all of us to join the party.
• You should get your younger brother to handle your social media accounts.
• I can’t get him to do anything. He does not listen to me.
• Did you get him to read the story?
• How do you get her to cook food for you? She never cooks for us.
Structure 2: Subject + get (all tenses) + the object (thing) + past participle

Active voice Passive voice

I got him to sign the papers I got the papers signed

yesterday. yesterday.

She is getting me to cut her She is getting her hair

hair. cut.

Jon got him to repair your Jon got your laptop re-
laptop. paired.

How did you get them to hire How did you get him
 him? hired?

HELP

The verb ‘help’ does not exactly cause someone to do something, but it does aid
the person in doing the action. So, we can call it a semi-causative verb.

Meaning = to aid someone in doing something

Structure: Subject + help (all tenses) + someone (object) + infinitive or bare in-
finitive

Examples:

• I helped him to write the report.

or
• I helped him write the report.
• She never helps me prepare breakfast.
• Jonny will help you solve this matter.
• Will you help me do this?
• My sister Riya helps me edit the videos.
• You should help her to reach there.
• You must help me get this job.

Other causative verbs

Assist = to help or aid someone in doing something (assist (person) in V1 ing)

Force = to make someone do something forcefully
Pressurize = to make someone do something forcefully or by putting pressure on
them
Require = make someone do something (a part of the process generally)
Convince = to get someone to do something by convincing them
Coax/persuade = to get someone to do something by being kind, gentle, and per-
sistent or at least appear to be doing it gently and kindly

Examples:

• He assisted me in drinking that slimy thing.

• He forced me to drink that slimy thing.
• You can’t pressurize (pressure) us to leave the job.
• This job requires us to be good at coding.
• She convinced me to wear that jacket.
• His friends coaxed/persuaded us to come with them.
 Causatives: Have and Get

We use a causative verb when we want to talk about something that someone else
did for us or for another person. It means that the subject caused the action to hap-
pen, but didn't do it themselves: maybe they paid, or asked, or persuaded the other
person to do it. For example, we can say:
• I cleaned my house. (This means I cleaned it myself.) If I paid someone to clean
it, of course I can say:
• A cleaner cleaned my house.
But, another way is to use a causative construction. So I can also say:
• I had my house cleaned.
In a sense, using a causative verb is similar to using a passive. The important thing
is that the house is
now clean. We don't focus on who did the cleaning.

Have something done (have + object + past participle)

We usually use 'have something done' when we are talking about paying someone
to do something for us. It's often used for services. The form is 'subject + have +
object + past participle'.
1

I had my car washed.

John will have his house painted.

Get something done (get + object + past participle)

We can also use 'subject + get + object + past participle'. This has the same mean-
ing as 'have', but is less formal.
• The students get their essays checked.
• I'll get my hair cut next week.
• He got his washing machine fixed.

Have someone do something (have + person + infinitive)

We can also use the construction 'subject + have + person + infinitive'. This has a
very similar meaning to 'have something done', which we've already talked about,
but this time we say who did the thing – we talk about the person who we asked to
do the thing for us.
• I had the electrician look at my broken light.
• The doctor will have the nurse call the patients.
• The teacher had the students write the answers on the whiteboard.

Get someone to do something (get + person + to + infinitive)

Finally, we can also use the construction 'get + someone + to + infinitive'. Again,
this means that you cause the other person to do the action, maybe by paying them
to do it, or by asking them to do it, or by persuading them to do it.
• She gets her son to do his homework by promising him ice cream when he's fin -
ished.
• I got the cleaner to clean under the cupboards.
Sometimes, this construction has the feeling that we needed to convince someone
to do something, while the other constructions on this page are neutral.