Le vent en poupe - Cours de français intermédiaire pour étudiants anglophones


Chapitre dix-neuf

La ville et la campagne


Vocabulaire - Conversation - Dossier - Activité écrite

Grammaire : La construction causative; le verbe devoir

 

Document provisoire (septembre 2004)

 

Faire + infinitive

Meaning: to make (have, let) someone else do something, to make (have) something be done by someone else

Examples:
Il nous a fait partir.= He made us leave.
L'agent lui fera prendre une autre rue.= The policeman will make him take another street.
Elles feront peindre la maison. = They will have the house painted.
Jean nous a fait entrer. = John let us in.

A. 1. Pronouns, signs of negation, and adverbs are placed around the verb "faire" not around the infinitive.

Example:
Le chien ne la faisait pas souvent pleurer. = The dog did not often make her cry.

2. No nouns or pronouns are placed between "faire" and the infinitive.
Tu ferais partir Pierre? = You would make Peter leave?

B. The past participle of "faire" does not agree with preceding direct objects.

Example:
Elles les a fait rire.
Tu nous avais fait chanter.

C. The direct object can function either as the subject or the object of the infinitive signifying the action. If a noun functions as the subject of the infinitive, it always goes after the infinitive, never before as in English.

Example:
1. Tu as fait nager l'enfant. = You made (had) the child swim.
2. Tu l'as fait nager. = You made (had) him swim.
3. Tu as fait laver la voiture.= You had the car washed.
4. L'as-tu fait laver.= Did you have it washed?

D. If there is both a subject and a direct object of the infinitive, the noun subject is preceded by the preposition "à" and the pronoun subject takes the form of an indirect object pronoun:
Examples:
1. Elle avait fait prendre le train à son frère.= She had made her brother take the train.
2. Elle le lui avait fait prendre.= She had made him take it.

E. If the infinitive is normally followed by the preposition "à" + noun, there can result an ambiguity between the object of that preposition and the subject of the infinitive. In that case, the subject of the infinitive is preceded by "par" rather than "à."

Examples:
Je ferai donner le livre par Jean à Pierre. = I will have John give the book to Peter.

Laisser + infinitive

Meaning: to let someone else do something

A. Like the past participle of "faire," the past participle of "laisser" followed by an infinitive generally does not agree with a preceding direct object.
Example:
Je les ai laissé chanter.
Je les ai entendu chanter.

B. If the infinitive only has a direct object, follow the rules for "faire "+ infinitive:
Examples:
J'ai laissé chanter les chansons.
Je les ai entendu chanter.

C. If the infinitive has a subject, this subject can be placed before the infinitive or after it.
Examples:
Nous avons laissé Jean manger. (not possible with "faire")
Nous avons laissé manger Jean. (like "faire")

D. If the infinitive has both a subject and a direct object, the subject must be placed before and the direct object must be placed after the infinitive (unlike "faire").
Examples:
On a vu Jean manger la pomme. (vs. On a fait manger la pomme à Jean)

E. Object pronouns can be placed before "laisser" or the verb of perception (as with "faire") or each pronoun can be placed with the verb it modifies (which is not possible with "faire")
Examples:
Ils me l'ont vu regarder.
Ils m'ont laissé la regarder.

Rendre + adjective

"Rendre" followed by an adjective means "to make."

Examples:
1. Nous les rendons tristes. = We make them unhappy.
2. Tu rendras le travail difficile. = You will make the work difficult.

Le verbe devoir

When expressing debt, the verb 'devoir' does not change its meaning for English speakers from tense to tense. So for instance, "Il me doit vingt euros", "il me devait vingt euros" etc., translate as "He owes me twenty euros", "he owed me/used to owe me twenty euros," etc.

When followed by an infinitive, the verb devoir reflects necessity, obligation, expectation or probability, depending on its tense. It means "to have to", "to be supposed to".

Présent   

Tu dois partir.

You have to leave.
You must leave.
You are supposed to leave.

Futur

Tu devras partir.    

You will have to leave.

Conditionnel 

Tu devrais partir. 

You should leave.
You ought to leave.

Passé Composé

Tu as dû partir.     

You had to leave.
You must have left.

Imparfait 

Tu devais partir.

You had to leave.
You were supposed to leave.

Here is another set of examples:

the present tense tends to means 'must,' 'have to,' 'got to' ("je dois faire des course," "I have to go shopping");

the imperfect 'was supposed to' ("tu devais faire la lessive," "you were supposed to do the wash");

the passé composé 'had to' ("elle a dû téléphoner à son petit ami," "she had to telephone her boy friend");

the future 'will have to' ("nous devrons acheter des billets d'avion," "we will have to buy airline tickets");

the conditional 'should' ("vous devriez vous reposer un peu," "you should get a little rest");

the past conditional 'should have' ("Ils auraient dû rendre les livres à la bibliothèque," "they should have returned the books to the library).

 
 

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© 2005 Bert Peeters except where stated otherwise