Causative constructions: making, letting and having someone do something

This pattern helps you describe not only what people did, but what you caused, allowed or arranged — and everyday life is full of the second kind of sentence: having a car fixed, letting the children stay up, making someone laugh. Avoid translating "have something done" word by word: choose a Portuguese construction that conveys the intended arrangement. There is a listening payoff too, because Deixa eu ver and Vi ela sair are common colloquial forms whose register and structure are useful to recognise.

1. Causative and perception patterns

English needs three different structures to talk about causing things: you make someone do it, you let someone do it, you have something done. Portuguese does all of it with one pattern — causative verb + infinitive, without a linking que, para or other preposition. The infinitive’s subject can appear between the verbs, as in O barulho fez o bebê acordar.

• fazer + infinitive — cause it, make it happen: O barulho fez o bebê acordar. (The noise made the baby wake up.)

• mandar + infinitive — order it, or have it done: Mandei consertar o carro. (I had the car fixed.)

• deixar + infinitive — let it, allow it: Meus pais não me deixam sair durante a semana. (My parents do not let me go out during the week.)

• ver, ouvir, sentir + infinitive — witness it: Ouvi você chegar. (I heard you arrive.)

The infinitive has its own expressed or understood subject. Some constructions raise that subject to an object position; others use a personal infinitive with its own subject. The rest of this point covers which verb, which pronoun, and when a full clause serves you better.

2. fazer: make it happen

Common Pitfalls

• Slipping a que or a para between the two verbs. ❌ Ele fez para eu chorar. → ✅ Ele me fez chorar. (He made me cry.) For the causal meaning here, use a subjunctive clause with que: Fez com que eu chorasse.

• Translating 'have something done' word by word with ter. The literal model Vou ter meu cabelo cortado. is not the usual way to express arranging a haircut. Prefer Vou cortar o cabelo. (I am going to get my hair cut.) Brazilians simply use the plain verb, or mandar when they want to stress that someone else did it: Mandei cortar o cabelo bem curto. (I had my hair cut very short.)

• Treating Deixe-me as writing-only. Deixe-me is correct and can occur in speech according to register. Deixa eu ver esse cardápio. (Let me see that menu.) is a common colloquial Brazilian alternative.

• Confusing Vi que ela saiu with Vi ela sair. ✅ Vi ela sair. (I watched her leave.) ✅ Vi que ela saiu. (I realised she had left.) The first foregrounds seeing the event; the second reports awareness of a fact without ruling out direct observation.

• Forgetting the subjunctive after fazer com que. ❌ Fez com que ele entendeu. → ✅ Fez com que ele entendesse. (He made him understand.)

• Confusing the pronoun’s role and placement. For the intended causative reading, prefer Ele me fez chorar or Fez-me chorar to the original model Fez chorar-me. Me fez chorar. (He made me cry.) illustrates informal Brazilian initial proclisis; formal sentence-initial placement uses enclisis. A pronoun that belongs to the infinitive can have another placement, as in mandou os homens levantarem-se.