Both indirect and direct object pronouns used with past tense, and faire + infinitive in one sentence

Elijah N.C1Kwiziq community member

Both indirect and direct object pronouns used with past tense, and faire + infinitive in one sentence

Hello Kwiziq,

I was just doing an exercise on another site, where they used a complex sentence to say this: 

"Ces jolies robes, je vous les ai fait raccommoder."

It made me think if it's a correct construction or not, because in these cases I always see "le/la/les" before the infinitive. Maybe I missing something? 

Would the sentence "Ces jolies robes, je vous ai fait les raccommoder" imply the same meaning, is one more correct than the other, or perhaps they both work (without any ambiguity)? 

Also, thank you all in advance. Thanks to your exercises and easy-to-understand explanations, I could finally break my plateau and become more confident when I'm talking to someone.

Asked 3 years ago
Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Elijah,

This is how it should be written:-

Ces jolies robes, je vous les ai fait raccommoder.

I fear that in a rush earlier I may have misled you - the direct object pronoun "les" needs to come after vous. I have rewritten it above for you.

Your other sentence suggests that you were made to mend the dresses which is incorrect  --  the point is the causative faire construction aspect as shown at the start of this post.

Hope this makes it clearer.

Jim

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Elijah,

This looks to me like a "causitive faire" construction.

"Ces jolies robes, je vous les ai fait raccommoder"

The dresses have been repaired not by the subject, but by an agent of the subject.

"I have had the dresses repaired for you".

Does this help?

Jim

Elijah N.C1Kwiziq community member

So the original sentence would imply "I made you do it" while the other one would mean "I had them repaired for you" (not me, but someone else did it for me, i.e the agent of the subject)? 

Both indirect and direct object pronouns used with past tense, and faire + infinitive in one sentence

Hello Kwiziq,

I was just doing an exercise on another site, where they used a complex sentence to say this: 

"Ces jolies robes, je vous les ai fait raccommoder."

It made me think if it's a correct construction or not, because in these cases I always see "le/la/les" before the infinitive. Maybe I missing something? 

Would the sentence "Ces jolies robes, je vous ai fait les raccommoder" imply the same meaning, is one more correct than the other, or perhaps they both work (without any ambiguity)? 

Also, thank you all in advance. Thanks to your exercises and easy-to-understand explanations, I could finally break my plateau and become more confident when I'm talking to someone.

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
I'll be right with you...