''Eva se fait laver les cheveux.'' means Eva is having her hair done?

Jennifer C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

''Eva se fait laver les cheveux.'' means Eva is having her hair done?

Am I correct in thinking that Eva se fait laver les cheveux means she is having her hair washed as well as she has her hair done? I am slightly thrown because has her hair done looks like a past perfect construction but se fait laver like a present.
Asked 7 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer
Bonjour Jennifer !

I agree with you than using "is having her hair washed" is probably a better translation in this context (I've edited it accordingly), but note that if you were talking about a habit for example, "she has her hair done every week", the use of present tense "has" would be correct.
Here though it might look a bit like the present perfect "has done", note that in the present perfect, you wouldn't place the object of the sentence in-between "has" and "done" (e.g. He has done his homework).
The structure used here is called "causative": to have + [something] + -ed

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Erlinda P.C1Kwiziq community member
I don't think we can assume that Eva is having her hair done. She's only having it washed.

''Eva se fait laver les cheveux.'' means Eva is having her hair done?

Am I correct in thinking that Eva se fait laver les cheveux means she is having her hair washed as well as she has her hair done? I am slightly thrown because has her hair done looks like a past perfect construction but se fait laver like a present.

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