How to use Causatives in English

We often talk about actions that are done for us or by someone else. In English, such situations are expressed with the causative — a special construction that shows that a certain action is performed not by us personally. So let’s take a look at how to correctly use causatives in English and explore the most common ones: make, have, let, help, and get.

Contents 

1. What are causatives and how do we use them in English?
2. Passive VS causative passive forms
     2.1 Make
     2.2 Have
     2.3 Let
     2.4 Help
     2.5 Get
3. Comparative table of causative verbs
4. Exercise to practise causatives
5. FAQs about causatives

What are causatives and how do we use them in English?

Causatives are special constructions in English used to talk about an action that someone else does for us or for another person. This means that the subject (I, we, a neighbour, a friend, etc.) causes the action to happen but does not perform it themselves. Let’s take a closer look:

• Daryna made Sashko clean the house.
• I had my assistant send the email.
• Olena made her son wash the dishes after breakfast.

In these example sentences, there is causativity — the people perform certain actions not of their own free will, but because of someone’s request, persuasion, or even pressure. Now let’s look at the difference between a sentence where the subject performs the action willingly, and a sentence that contains the causative passive.

• Alina went home early. 
• Alina’s boss let her go home early. 

In the first sentence, Alina made the decision to leave work early on her own. There is no indication of persuasion, pressure, or permission — only her personal desire to do so.

In the second sentence, however, we see causativity, because Alina’s manager is the person who allowed her to leave work early. In other words, Alina didn’t perform this action purely by choice — she did it because she was given permission. In this case, the verb let functions as a causative verb because it shows that someone allowed her to do something.

Passive VS Causative Passive forms

When studying causatives in English, students often confuse the causative with the causative passive. The difference between the two lies in who performs the action and what the sentence focuses on.

In a regular causative construction, someone causes another person to perform an action, and the focus is on the person who actually does the action. For example:

• I made Nazar help me.

It’s important not only that I made Nazar help and that he actually did it, but also that it was Nazar who helped the person.

Meanwhile, the causative passive is used when we are interested in the action itself rather than the person who performed it — someone did something for us. The focus is on the result, not on the person who caused it to happen. In many cases, the performer of the action is not mentioned at all in the passive causative:

• We had the house cleaned.

In other words, we can guess that a cleaning company cleaned the house, but the sentence doesn’t state this directly. Let’s take a closer look at the comparative table to reinforce the rules:

You may have already noticed that only certain verbs are used to form causative constructions in English. Not every verb can function this way. Let’s look at the most common causative verbs: make, have, let, help, and get.

Make

The causative verb make is used to show that one person forces another person to perform a certain action. It’s important to remember that after make, the main verb appears only in the bare infinitive — the infinitive without to. Many students get confused at this point and automatically add to out of habit.

Subject + make + object + V1 (bare infinitive)

• Who made you paint the wall at the weekend?
• Hanna made her son apologize to every kid in the room.
• Our team lead made us practice harder before the test. 

Have

The causative verb have in English is used to show that someone performs an action at another person’s request. This verb can appear both in the active voice (when the subject causes someone to do the action) and the passive voice (when the subject does not perform the action themselves).

In the active voice, sentences with the causative verb have can be formed using the following pattern:

Subject + have + object + V1 (bare infinitive)

• Katrya had her colleague call that client.
• We always have the waiter bring us the bill beforehand. 
• Yesterday our Head of marketing team had us develop another brand promotion strategy. 

Take a closer look: in the sentences above, we know who initiates the action, who is asked / made / assigned to do it, and what action is being performed.

The passive form with have is used when we need someone else to do something for us. In this case, it doesn’t matter who exactly performs the action — what matters is that the action gets done.

In constructions with the causative passive using have, the main verb is used in the past participle form (the third form of an irregular verb, or a regular verb with the -ed ending).

Subject + have + object + past participle (V3 / Ved)

• I have my hair cut every month. 
• Dmytro had his car washed this morning.
• Daria had her new laptop repaired after it broke down.

 One characteristic feature of the causative passive with have is that we know the action was completed, but we have no idea who actually performed it.

Let

The causative verb let means “to allow someone to do something”. Just like with the verb make, the verb that follows let is used in the bare infinitive (the infinitive without to).

Subject + let + object + V1 (bare infinitive)

• Mark let his dog run in the park if there are no pitbulls around.
• Don’t let anyone take your phone!
• Marusia’s boss sometimes let her go home early on Wednesdays. 

Help

With the verb help, the situation is a bit more interesting. It expresses assisting someone in performing an action. Help also has a special feature: after this causative verb, you can use either the infinitive with to or the bare infinitive (the infinitive without to).

Subject + help + object + V1 (infinitive) OR

Subject + help + object + V1 (bare infinitive)

• Volunteers helped children (to) pack their bags.
• My psychologist helped me (to) break up with my boyfriend. 
• Can you help me (to) create a presentation in Canva? 

It’s worth noting that after the causative verb help, you can use the infinitive with to or without it. The infinitive with to may sound more formal and is often used in writing, especially in official documents or academic texts. The infinitive without to is more common in everyday spoken English.

Get

The causative verb get is used with the meaning “to make” or “to persuade” someone to do something. It’s important to remember that after get, the verb is always used with to — that is, in the full infinitive form, unlike most other causative verbs.

Subject + get + object + V1 (infinitive)

• We got Bohdan to revise our work plan for this week. 
• Lina got her colleagues to sign New Year’s postcards. 
• We got the CEO to double our department's salary. 

The verb get also has its own causative passive form. Note that the person who performs the action is not mentioned in these sentences.

Subject + get + object + past participle (V3 / Ved)

• Milana got her nails done for the party. 
• We got our kitchen renovated last summer. 
• Tetiana got the internet fixed before important zoom meeting.

It’s important to know that in everyday speech, native speakers more often use get instead of have, especially in informal situations:

• I’ll get my car washed only tomorrow. (= I’ll have my car washed.) 

Comparative table of causative verbs

In the previous section, we looked at the most common causative verbs in English. In the following table, we’ll take a look at even more verbs that can be used to form causative constructions.

Exercise to practise causatives

Time to practice! Fill in the gaps with the correct causative verb in the appropriate form (make, have, let, help, or get) and the verb in brackets.

FAQs about causatives 

1. What is a causative in English?

Causatives are special constructions in English used to talk about an action that someone else performs for us or for another person. This means that the subject causes the action to happen but does not perform it themselves.

• I had my assistant send the email. 

2. How do causative verbs differ from regular verbs?

Causative verbs show that the action is not performed directly by the subject but by someone else — the person causes, requests, or allows the action to happen. 

Regular verbs describe what the subject does themselves, while causative verbs describe situations where someone makes, asks, or enables another person to do something.

3. What are the main causative verbs in English?

The most commonly used causative verbs are make, have, let, help, and get.

They help express situations in which one person influences another person’s actions — by forcing, allowing, organizing, or helping them to do something.

4. What is the difference between active and passive causative constructions?

The main difference between active and passive causative constructions is that in the active voice, the sentence specifies who carries out the action and who it is done to.

In the passive voice, the focus is on the action or its result, and the performer may be unimportant or not mentioned at all.

• Alina went home early. 
• Alina’s boss let her go home early.

• Daryna made Sashko clean the house. — Дарина заставила Сашку убрать дом. 
• I had my assistant send the email. — Я попросил своего ассистента отправить письмо.
• Olena made her son wash the dishes after breakfast. —